"Persistent drought in our village is the main challenge that I am facing. Water is very scarce and it has become very expensive to get it. Imagine walking for 5 kilometres to buy a 20Litre drum at 50 KES. This has become very expensive because there is no money to buy water. I also waste a lot of time looking for water that I would have used to burn charcoal for sale. This has made life more difficult for me and my family. Upon receiving the cash transfer, I will buy a 5000Litre tank that I will use to store rain water."

"Persistent drought in our village is the main challenge that is facing me. This has made life more difficult because I spend around five hours to walk to long distance to look for water. The five hours I spend on searching for water I would have used it to cut logs for charcoal burning. This has in the long run affected the education of my children because they are sent home due to school fees arrears. This brings a lot of stress to me. My desire has been to keep goats that survive dry weather conditions which I will sell when they multiply to educate my children. I will therefore use part of the money to buy five goats as an investment for my children education."

"Water shortage. In the past, I used to know that in the village basic commodities like water, food etc are readily available and accessible. But currently, am living like those in big towns where almost everything I buy. For a week in my house, I normally use 200litres of water. This translates to 500KES for water only according to the current price. Sometimes this water is not clean hence subjecting us to stomach discomfort."

"I am very grateful my children got an opportunity to avoid the embarrassment of getting kicked out of school and also that they did not have to pause their studies due to lack of tuition money. My husband and I struggle to make ends meet because I sometimes take water to peoples homes for pay and my spouse is a casual labourer at times he gets work but most times he does not so stick makes it hard to sustain all the needs our family requires."

"Receiving this money means I can open my salon. I pursued a hair and beauty course at my college level. I plan to open my salon in the nearby town which is 5 kilometers from my home. This will help me demonstrate my college skills to my village people and provide me with a basic income. With the remaining amount, I will buy a water tank to curb rainwater using gutters. This will help me get fresh water to drink with my family."

"The moment I received the message that the transfer had arrived I was actually on my way back from the stream from fetching water and I was so happy to say the least because I have five children to take care and that day I had no money so I was worried that my kids and I would have spent the day hungry and went to bed hungry as well."

"Our village has drought and famine now. This has really affected my dressmaking business because there is no money that is circulating in business because of the famine. People use their money for food and water. Lack of money is the current challenge that I am facing as a business woman."

"My first born was born with deformit , I have been having rough time growing her up because she cannot care for herself despite that she is 16 years old. Getting food for my family is also a big problem to me and my husband because we depend on charcoal burning business in order to put food on the table. There is a water scarcity of which it has become a disaster in our area. All water pans have dried up and we depend on buying water from motorcycle operators which is very expensive. One jerican costs 100 KES which is too expensive to me and sometimes we go to bed hungry because of luck of both water and food."

"The moment I received my transfer, I was preparing to step out to fetch water from the stream, when I heard my phone ringing and vibrating loudly, Upon checking I saw a Mpesa notification message showing that I had received money from GiveDirectly, I was overwhelmed with joy and happiness, I knew that I would be able to build a decent house for myself this is because the one that I was living in was small, words cannot express how happy I was, I am grateful to have received the support from GiveDirectly that changed my living standards."

"Water scarcity is the greatest challenge I am currently facing. We used to depend on water pans before but due to the prolonged drought that has lasted for almost 3 years now, all the pans nearby are now dry. The water point that is close to us is about one and a half hours walk. The distance is burden for us. We are forced to buy the water from vendors which is very expensive. A 20 litre container goes for 50 KES. Sometimes, you can go to bed hungry not because you lack food but because you have no water to cook the food."