"I have difficulties with my eyes. They are itchy and watery. I have sought aid from nearby hospitals but they keep promising to stock up the drugs I need so that they can attend to the issue. I would have made the trip myself and bought the drugs, but I do not have money for transportation. I would need to hire a motorcycle which will cost me roughly 1000KES. Lack of money had made me endure discomfort and pain."

"The challenges that I currently face are a lack of food and water. The prolonged drought has brought many challenges to the community, food and water are the main basic things that we are struggling to get. I am afraid if this continues I might close my shop and end up with no source of income."

"I have always wanted to keep livestock because they give good returns when they multiply. However, the drought has made it impossible to keep cows because they cannot survive where there are no grass and water. My plan, therefore, is to be spending 2500KES every month to buy a goat because they can survive in dry areas and buy food with the remaining 500KES. I believe after a few years I will have a herd of them and sell them at a profitable amount."

"Drought has brought a lot of challenges in our lives. I used to be a subsistence farmer and then worrying about food was not an issue because it was available on the farm. Every plant is dry in our area except for the drought-prone plants but the unfortunate thing is that they are not edible. Aside from us worrying about getting food, our animals are also dying of hunger and water shortages. Our village is in dire need of food and water aid, I am afraid soon people will start dying too."

"I came back home from a failed marriage. I am a single mother of six children, four of whom are in school. I live with my mother in a one-room house. We are so squeezed in there and sleeping arrangements uncomfortable. Unused to sell chapati for a living. I had to stop because we don't have enough water to run the business. With these funds, I can at least afford to pay a motorbike rider to fetch water and deliver it to me. I will reopen my business but this time, I'll make it an eatery. The money I'll make will help me pay school fees for my children and help my mother build a bigger house."

"I take care of my aging mother, plus my expecting wife, and our two children. The responsibility is overwhelming, especially with the current drought. Water and food have become rare commodities in my village. For water we have to walk 12km away from my village, prices of food, on the other hand, have also hiked up."

"Whenever my son sends money home is always a joy, at least I am assured that on that specific day I will not have to wake up early in the morning to go fetch water."

"Drought has hit my village hard to an extent getting water is difficult. A 20 Litre jerrican of water goes for 50KES. In a day, my family plus livestock consume 120 litres of water meaning I spend 300KES daily on water. Given that I am jobless, affording this on a daily basis is close to impossible and sometimes we retire to bed without taking shower."

"Seeing my children home because of lack of school fees breaks my heart. As we speak, all my children are home because I have been unable to pay their school fees on time. The drought currently encountered in my area has made it difficult to meet all the family needs given that I am forced to weigh between food, water and school fees. I am planning to use 50,000KES from the GiveDirectly transfers to pay school fees for my children. This will ensure that my children have ample study time in schools and definitely their academic performances will improve. I will use a further 30,000KES to buy goats for domestic rearing. When my children join secondary school, I will sell the goats at a profit and take my children to boarding secondary schools."

"Scarcity of water and the inability to provide for my children is the biggest challenges that I'm facing currently. With the chest pains, I can not manage to carry a jerrican of water. My children are young and therefore can manage to walk 30 kilometers to fetch water. At this point, I'm left with no option rather than buying water where a 20litres jerrican goes for Ksh 50. This serves us for four days as we only use it for cooking and drinking. We have not been able to bath or wash cloths for the last one month."