"I am the caretaker of my husband's three cows. In the last year 2021, a life-threatening drought hit this area. Many people lost livestock due to inadequate, pasture and drinking water. Luckily, the three cows survived until it rained in late December and in the early days of January 2022. I am very happy because the cows are now in good health due to the plenty of water and pasture."

"I went to fetch water with my water pan from the village creek, a normal chore for me before going to the farm daily. After few rounds to and fro, I was making this particular round when I heard my phone ring from the place in my wraparound cloth where I had tied it. When I checked, it wasn't any ordinary sms as I thought but my first transfer from GiveDirectly. I shouted in astonishment and threw the pan of water off my head, flung my slippers away and ran towards the town with shouting. My husband recognizing my voice ran towards me curious what had happened but when he realized that it was excitement from the cash transfer I had received, he joined me as we sang joyfully in our native tongue. The feeling was so unreal. Joy filled my heart and my home, I felt happier than I had ever felt before."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is the ease of running the daily activities that had been lagging due to the much time that I had been spending oscillating from home to the river to fetch water. Buying a large water tank solved a lot of problems that I had been struggling with and I am thankful to GiveDirectly for the support that facilitated this move."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that through the transfer, I was able to meet my heart's desires of owning a piece of land as well as starting the construction of a small shop for my tailoring business. Previously, I was working at home where I did not get the chance to serve many customers. Hence, I was struggling to meet the basic need of the family, especially food and water. I am optimistic that my business will improve once I relocated to the market center something that will earn me more income."

"I have always had an intention of upgrading my existing old grass-thatched house into an iron sheet roofed semi-permanent structure. The current house I reside in with my family is old and worn out and I am always stressed up during the rainy season as water seeps from the roof. This creates unfavorable living conditions for my family. To get out of this situation, I plan to use KES 35000 to build a spacious house to accommodate my family comfortably. I also need to buy dairy cattle to supplement my family with milk since I do not have any."

"I was at home fetching water in the evening when I got a message notification on my phone. I stopped what I was doing to check what the message was about and to my surprise, I had received money from Give Directly. I have never experienced such a happy moment in my life before. I thanked God for the surprise but still rushed to my helper to check if indeed there was money in my Mpesa account because I could not believe it."

"I lost the only son that I had years ago and this disturbed me since he was the only one who would help me. I live alone now that my daughters have been married and the house that I live in was built by my village people. It is old and I have planned that when I receive the transfer, I will use part of the money to build a bigger iron-roofed house for myself and convert the old one into a kitchen. This will give me space to host visitors, a place to store my things well, and also harvest rain water for use during the rainy season."

"I spent the three transfers majorly on food, school fees and construction of my kitchen. For instance, when I received the first transfer of kshs 3,000 , my child who is in form one was away from school due to school fees arrears. So I used kshs 2,000 to pay school fees. There was also no food in my house. Therefore, I bought 5 packets of 2kg maize flour worth kshs 500, 1 packet of 2kg wheat flour at kshs 200 and 3kg of sugar worth kshs 300. The second transfer came in around Christmas period. I had no plans on where to get food for this celebrations! I was so excited. I bought 2litres of cooking oil worth kshs 400 and 4 packets 2kg of wheat flour worth kshs 600. I had always wanted to renovate my kitchen but never had the money. So I spent kshs 1,000 on renovation materials like wood and nails. I then spent the remaining kshs 1,000 to pay for labour. The third transfer was equally useful. I spent kshs 2,500 on my child's school fees. I also bought washing bar soap at kshs 200, 2kg of sugar at kshs 280 and used the remaining balance on water because we are in a dry season. I'm so grateful because these transfers have been so helpful to me."

"Last December we received an adequate amount of rainfall. We are dairy farmers and depend on pastures, when it rains it is our joy since new green pastures will grow, and therefore our dairy cows feeds well and produce more milk for sale. So at the moment, there are enough pastures and water and that is my joy. My income is assured since I get enough milk."

""The most challenge I'm faced with is road connectivity especially during the rainy season. It takes up to two weeks to have my goods transported from the capital city to where I'm selling. As a result of this huge challenge, I go through lots of losses because most of the goods are destroyed or spoiled along the way in the process of getting them here. The environment is challenged with safe drinking water. So, during the rainy season, community dwellers easily come down with dysentery and my family is no exception.""