"I am a widow. When my husband died I was forced to go back to my birthplace due to some unavoidable circumstances. When I came back everything changed for my family. I started struggling and since then I have not been able to stand in terms of being able to provide for my family. I have been living a life of hand-to-mouth. The farm that I previously depended on is no longer productive due to the drought situation. The major challenges I am currently are being able to pay school fees for my kids and also providing them with food to eat. When I received the transfer I spent a portion of the amount KSH 300 in buying food, KSH 1000 in paying school fees for my children. I also saved the rest of the amount to use in small bits such as buying household items and also water for my use."

"Being a housewife means depending on my husband for everything. This is something that has eaten up my mind because I can not do anything to supplement the little income from his water vending work. The much I can get from him is 500 KES per week that I use to buy food. This amount is very little and it can not fully cater to our very basic needs like food, education, and clothing. Hence, I consider financial instability as the challenge that I am currently facing in my life."

"By the time I received the money, my wife was very sick. This transfer did me good and I took her to hospital where I spent around KES 20000.00 for her medication. Thereafter I took KES 16000.00 and paid her dowry balance so that I am at peace with my in-laws. KES 8000.00 out of the remaining amount, I bought some households items and kept the rest for food and water."

"Ten years ago while I was out fetching water 30 kilometers away, on my way back home my the jerry can I was carrying on my head fell and hit my right shoulder. For a moment I lost consciousness but I got back up and made my trip back home. I did not pay much attention to the injury till this year when the pain came back again. I keep having chest pains and it is hard to move my right shoulder. Recently, I sought medical assistance but I have to go back for a second visit for them to take a scan and make diagnosis. I am helpless, I can not lift heavy objects or perform any duties. If only I had paid more attention to the injury back then, things could be different now."

"Getting enough water for domestic use is the major challenge that we are currently facing. With the prolonged drought all the water point in my location has dried up and I usually go to look for water as far as 30 kilometres from home. This means also opening my business late because I always find long queues at the water point."

"Inadequacy of food stock and water is still my biggest headache. But I think our root problem is my husbands low level of education and lack of it on my side. This makes it hard for us to get meaningful jobs that we can earn from. The same reason he's always stuck with casual jobs that are unstable and offers meager wages."

"This prolonged draught has been the source of all problems to an extent that getting water is such a big problem. I always have to travel about five kilometres to get to the nearest pond where I can fetch cleaning water, but it's not safe for cooking. We still do another five to get to the next water point where a safer tap water is available for sale."

"Getting water has been my main challenge because of the prolonged drought. I walk for three hours to fetch water, carrying water in my head for that long-distance in the scorching sun is tiresome and draining. I pray to rain soon because if it continues like this people might start dying too like animals due to lack of water and food."

"I plan to build a new house because the one I live in is not in a good condition. It gets worse during the rainy season. The roof over my house is tarsh and the rats live in the tarsh roof. They eat it up and put holes all in it. When its raining then we dont sleep. We have to stay awake to put dishes to stop the water from spoiling our things. I'm also planning to use some of the money to pay my children balance school fees.Im so grateful to God for being enrolled in this program. I will live a better life from now."

"I have had only one and that is to build a decent house with the roof been covered with zinc. It is still that goal I am working on to achieve. I had used portion of my first transfer to buy zinc and cement before recieving this transfer. Meanwhile, I used portion of this transfer to buy zinc and cement again and portion was used to buy gas to saw planks for the new house roof. The condition of the house that shelters me and my family now has been and still in bad condition. During the rainy season we have sleepless night because the tatch that covers the roof no longer holds the rain water. I am now happy that my dream of building a decent decent is a reality now."