"When I received my transfer, my priority was to purchase a dairy cow as I have been buying milk daily and it is expensive to me and this is the biggest difference in my daily life as it has always been my wish to own one. When it calves, my family will have enough milk for consumption and for sale to earn an income. Also, I will be able to save the money I would otherwise have used in buying milk and use them on other projects like paying school fees for my children. I am so happy because GiveDirectly enabled me to fulfill my dream and I believe that my children are the happiest because they are usually keen to know if it has been fed and given water whenever they come back from school in the evening."

"Before taking a rest at home from making charcoals in the field, I went straight to taking some water to cool my body. While taking the water, my phone received a message and upon checking, my body gained strength since the information was strong. GiveDirectly had sent me KES 55000.00 something I hadn’t dream of. I jumped up and down in happiness knowing that my life was opening a new chapter."

"My major challenge is my house because when it rains I use bucket to hold the water from touching my bed."

"We are very happy and thankful to be enrolled in this program. My line of work where I assist in construction works has not been going on well for some time. Ever since I got married, I had been looking forward to save some money and build my own house. Now I will start planning on where I can build a moderate house with iron sheets and good floor which is better than most of the houses in the village. Some money will go towards buying adequate household items too so that my wife does not struggle on keeping water as we have very few buckets and preparing food. I also think there will be many house building projects and there will be opportunities to work too."

"My last-born daughter who is in form four has been in and out of school due to fee arrears and so receiving this money will enable me to clear the pending KES 14000 of her school fees. I will then add one lactating cow worth KES 35000, to the one I currently depend on for income from selling milk. I have always aspired to live in a better structure since the one I live in is too old and leaks in water whenever it rains, thus KES 40000 of my transfer will enable me to achieve this."

"With the new water tank with a huge capacity, I am hopeful that we will soon be enjoying a plentiful supply of water. This is the biggest difference in my daily life and a dream come true for every member of my household since we have been struggling a lot to use a little amount of water as possible especially when we are experiencing droughts. The money we had been spending on buying water will soon be diverted into buying foodstuff for the household and settling other household bills."

"My most recent transfer was spent on my daily needs because I have already been able to build a home for my family and so I could budget for other things. My children who have not had a stable education with being sent home every single no the due to school fees. I was able to spend KES.6000 on three children. I was also able to spend KES.4000 on their clothes ranging from somewhere to uniforms. The rest of the money summing up to KES.43150 was on water and food as we are in a famine and water is scarce leading to buying from traders. I thank Give directly for this opportunity."

"With this last transfer, I was able to finish buying one acre of land. I had earlier paid KES.40000 from the first transfer and was remaining KES.30000 which I was able to clear. Owning my piece of land has been a dream but is now a reality. I was also able to buy two goats and paid my rent areas worth KES.4000. The rest of the money was spent on buying water tanks for storing water during this drought."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is the purchase of a water tank. Even though I am still setting its foundation and the gutters around the roof, I am happy that it will give us a lasting solution once the rain starts. I can't wait to enjoy the experience of using clean water from the roof and stopping the frequent walk to and from the river to fetch just a 20-liter pot that is not clean enough to be used directly without boiling."

"The challenge I'm currently encountering is having to buy everything we eat. We try to produce our food here on this farm but as you can see everything has dried up due to inconsistent rainfall or sometimes too much of it which becomes destructive. Water for domestic use is also another challenge. We do not have clean water here, we fetch from a nearby pond which we share with animals, and sometimes the water is not potable at all. My children were diagnosed with typhoid recently and I believe it is due to the water we drink."