"Food insecurity and water scarcity are the challenges I am currently facing. I am currently involved in charcoal burning. I approximately make 4,000 KES per month. With the water scarcity problem, I spend half of my income on fetching water. A 20l container goes for 50 KES. The amount that remains is insufficient to buy food that can comfortably last us( my son and I) for a month. This forces us to reduce the number of meals we take in a day. In the last one month, I have been taking two meals per day ( breakfast and lunch or breakfast and supper)."

"I received the text message that I had received money from Give Directly at around 8 am in the morning. I was just from fetching water and was resting. I received the text message and after looking into it when I confirmed that I had received the cash. I was very happy and throughout the day I became very active and very lively."

"I received the text message at around 8 am in the morning. I was just from fetching water that I was going to use at my house on that day. As I was sitting down resting, due to the exhaustion of lifting jerricans full of water from a far distance I received the text message. When I looked at it I confirmed it was money from GiveDirectlly. I was very happy. I was never expecting to receive such an amount from anyone and I knew right away that the money was going to help"

"The money has made a big difference in my life. I am was able to repair my house and right now I am sleeping in a good house. I am no longer afraid that I will have to stay awake when it rains heavily during the night. I am also very happy that my thing is safe inside the house and nothing will be damaged due to rain water getting into my house. I am also grateful that my children are still in school and continuing with their education."

"I was at home relaxing after I had just finished fetching water from the nearest stream. I had gotten so tired that I gladly accepted. It has been a challenge to get a new phone but I thank God that it agitated me. I was happy and patient."

"I spent KES 32,000 to renovate my house by purchasing 23 bags of cement, water for construction, and sent aside KES 13,200 for payment of the labour charges. This is because my house was old, mad-walled and I had to refurbish it each year during the rainy season which is very costly. I had desired to construct a more permanent but I lacked the financial muscle to do it. In addition, I spent KES 5000 to purchase new and decent clothes since I was using old and worn-out ones which brought me shame whenever I am in a community gathering. I also used the remaining amount to purchase enough food for the family."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that my family nowadays has clean water for domestic use. This has been possible since we were able to purchase a water tank using part of our transfer. Because of this, I am certain that my family members will not be falling sick frequently due to contamination from dirty water. In addition, I am happy that my spouse will no longer be going to the river to fetch water like she used to before."

"I decided to build a more decent house for my family when I received my first transfer. The walls are made of timber and the floor has been cemented and the only thing remaining is to fix windows and a door and I have so far spent KES 30000 on it. I decided on this since I am old and I am no longer able to walk for a long distance looking for water and clay soil to use in dusting my current house. In addition, I bought a heifer worth 15000 as an investment that I can rely on in the coming years when it has reproduced. I will be selling part of the milk and using the income to meet our basic needs. Using the remaining KES 9000, I bought one sack of maize for our consumption, some hybrid maize seeds, fertilizers and hired a tractor to help me in tilling our land in preparation for planting."

"I was at my doorstep of my house, I had just arrived from fetching water from the nearby water kiosk. Immediately after reaching, I heard my phone ringing. I was so curious to know the content of the message since it was on that day the GiveDirectly stuffs promised to sent us the transfer. I felt very excited for receiving my transfer, because of the happiness I immediately called my husband to inform him about the good news. I had eagerly awaited for the transfer since we had already planned for it."

"The moment I received the money I felt so happy I remember it was around 9am when I heard a message tone from my phone. My daughter was at home I informed her to check it for me. She said that it was message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy. My family members too were so happy. I knew I would be able to buy a water tank and get clean water. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed our living standards."