"For a living, I make and sell charcoal, which pays me at most KES 1,800 a month. With rising commodity prices, it is difficult to cover all of the household's demands with this amount. Besides, my husband's cinema business is barely profitable since the soccer season ended and people no longer come to watch games. Since the beginning of the month, life has hit us hard, and we have slept hungry for around seven days. So, it was only appropriate for me to spend the entire amount on food when I received the transfer, which I did."

"For the past two years, I have faced many challenges in finding clean water for my usage. All water sources have dried up, forcing me to buy water from the vendors at very high prices. The farm is no longer productive because of the drought, hence I have to buy all the food from the shop. To add salt to the injury, food prices have skyrocketed in the past few months. I have no stable source of income and depend on my casual job of making and selling charcoal. The poor state of the economy means I have few clients to sell to, hence earning very little. When I received my transfer, I spent it all on buying food and water, which I could not afford to buy due to lack of money."

"The transfer has brought a big difference in our lives as a family. I managed to finally fulfill my wish of building another decent house for my family. The house is still under construction but I am hoping that I will be able to finish it soon with the little money that I still have. Having built an iron-roofed house, I have also managed to collect clean rainwater for my household use just like some of my neighbors. I am also happy because I managed to send my child to school having cleared the whole academic term school fees. My children are happy because they have new clothes to wear and enough food to eat. The maize prices have at the moment gone up, a 2-kg tin is being sold at KES 200 and I don't think I would have managed to afford to buy enough for them. For this, I am so much grateful to GiveDirectly for their big help. May God bless you."

"Being elderly, I no longer work and fully depend on my son, who takes care of me. My son earns a living as Mason, building houses for other people. The harsh economic times we are facing have hugely reduced the number of jobs he is getting currently (1 job per week). Because of the scarcity of job opportunities, he cannot pay school fees for his 4 children who are in primary school. The children have often been sent home and missed important classes, which affects their performance. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I spent KES 1500 in helping and paying school fees for my grandchildren so that they would resume their studies just like other children in the village. Besides paying school fees for my grandchildren, I spent the other half in buying maize flour for food for the family. In the previous month, before receiving the transfer, we survived on one meal because of the high prices of food commodities and the inability to grow food crops on the farm due to the persistent drought."

"I have always wanted to raise goats, even though I did not have money to do so. With the transfer,  I was able to purchase a goat worth KES 2000. When it grows, I will be able to sell it to generate some income in case I have an emergency. Because I had purchased some items on credit from the shop, I used KES 500 to pay off what I had purchased on credit. I am glad I am in a good relation with the shopkeeper as a result of off setting a a debt that had been running for about two weeks. The previous batch enabled me to purchase maize flour. This helped me because my business of selling cooked food had been struggling due to the increase in food prices."

"I have been running a shop business as the primary source of my earnings. However, due to escalated prices of commodities, it has not been performing as it used to. Therefore with my most recent transfer, I invested KES 3000 on business by purchasing additional items that I did have then, and that to a given extent has promoted my daily sales. Since food is critical and we did not have sufficient foodstuff, I spent KES 900 on food which lasted us over one week. In addition, I had an uncleared fee for my 3 daughters. With the transfer. I was able to pay KES 1,000 and I am super glad that they are now comfortably learning without the stress of being sent home to collect the fee. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for its amazing support."

"Food insecurity is the biggest challenge I am facing currently. With the rise in food prices, affording a meal has been difficult for my family. One 2kg packet of maize flour goes for KES 180, a price that is unaffordable to a jobless widow."

"I'm always happy when I take my charcoal to Mariakani and get to sell everything fast at good prices like 500 KES per sac. This happened to me two months ago. On that day I had taken three small sacs when I was extremely broke, didn't even have food in the house. I just got there and I was able to sell all at once and at the best prices the market could offer. This really made me happy because I got to come back with shopping."

"Food shortage is the challenge I am currently struggling with. Of late, food prices have been on the rise. With a constant income of 2,500 KES a month from charcoal burning, keeping up with prices has caused food security concerns in my family. Two years ago, this amount was enough for me to survive for a whole month, currently, this amount cannot last me and my son for even 3 weeks."

"The past four seasons have been harsh since we have not had any harvests. Food has been scarce and we have been compelled to purchase from shops. The prices have also increased making it even harder to afford. To get by, we consume two meals a day, porridge in the morning and cornmeal mush (ugali) for dinner. Sadly I have to watch my children skip lunch and it is difficult for them to understand why."