"I had just left to fetch water as any other normal day but when I came back, one of my siblings came running telling me that I had received the money. I took the phone from him so that I could look at it myself. I was so happy when I saw that It was true. I am grateful that this program is real and that my life will never be the same again."

"On most occasions I am a subsistence farmer but unfortunately this year I did not participate in any planting because of the drought that has affected our village adversely and that is why the minute I received the money I thought of nutrition because my children and I had to go hungry severally. I went ahead and bought ten packets of maize flour which cost me KES 1,000, I also bought six gallons of water due to the scarcity which cost me KES 200 and a kilogram of sugar and sardines each KES 100 respectively. Then two out of my seven children had been sent home from school and had stayed home two days so I gave them KES 1,000 to be split among them equally so that they could resume classes. Unfortunately at the time I was also feeling unwell so I seeked medical attention where I paid KES 500 to the doctors."

"I heard a beep on my phone early in the morning that day when I was on my way to fetch water but I did not bother much because I cannot read and I am not that good with working the phone since I am old. The moment I arrived home my daughter-in law informed she had already received her transfers and went ahead to check my phone. The ring earlier had actually been informing me of the arrival of the money and I was so happy because I could finally get something to eat."

"Our area has experienced long droughts that have led to the drying up of all the nearby water pans. This means I spend a better part of my morning hours searching for water from a distance of almost 7 kilometers away from home. This is time-consuming and energy-draining something that has rendered me unproductive because I am not fully committed to my charcoal work. Hence, financial instability has been the main challenge that I am currently facing."

"We have plans that we would like to accomplish. We would wish to cement the floor of the house that we just built. We used the first transfer and part of the second transfer to build another house. We however were not in a position to cement the floor and hence we decided to smear it with mud. We want to cement the floor because when there is too much rain in our area, water usually oozes out of the ground. Apart from cementing the floor, I also have plans to buy more utensils. The utensils that I have are not enough especially when I have guests in my household. I also wish to buy a cow. We usually buy two cups of milk every day at KES 40. This is costly to us and also our child lacks enough milk for consumption. We can only achieve all these steps by step because we do not have much money. We plan to start with cementing the floor and we plan to use the money that my husband makes as a mason. We will thus no longer have to worry about water oozing out of the floor when it rains."

"I had left early in the morning to go fetch water as it was easier to carry water before the sun comes up. When I got back from my errands, I sat down to take a break and check my phone. When I saw that I had received the money I was very happy. Thank you for giving me this opportunity Give Directly."

"I have new goals that I would wish to accomplish but I don't have any more money to enable me to do so. I would wish to buy another cow, build a house, and buy a water tank. All these need large sums of money which I don't know where I will get. I am getting old and I am no longer able to do so much work. I had planned to fence my land and draw water to my compound when I get the transfer. I am still going on with the fencing of my land and it seems with the money that is remaining, I will not be able to finish fencing the whole land. I usually sell milk that I get from my cows. I sell about five litres daily which go for KES 20 per litre and I get paid at the end of the month. With this money that I get from the sale of milk, I plan to use part of it in finishing the fencing of the land. I wanted to fence the land because I wanted to restrain my cows from going to other people's farms and causing disagreements. This way I can concentrate on doing other things rather than looking after the cows as they graze."

"I haven't really been happy because my thatched roof house leaks everytime it rains and so we have to put pan and bucket down to hold the water. But from the day I learned about Givedirectly coming to our Village, it has given me hope for a better future."

"While grazing my cows in the field, I received a message at around 9am. Upon confirming what the message was all about, my legs froze and I didn’t make even a single step due to the happiness that engulfed me. I had received KES 55000.00 from GiveDirectly. I was so grateful hence didn’t proceed in the grazing work I was doing after picturing the difficulties I left at home that morning. There was no water both for us and the cows as well as no food. I tied the cows in the field and left for home to sort the issues that required quick attention like water and food."

"Since I had no house at all, the first thing I thought of was to construct a house. In that regard, I bought 24 pieces of iron sheets, poles and other building materials. Thereafter, I bought some stock to revive my hotel business which had collapsed for a while. I also paid KES 4000.00 school fees for my five primary school children because they were ever sent home for the same. For remaining amount, I used it in buying food and water for the family."