"At the age of 38 years, I get more ashamed to see myself doing some roles like cooking, fetching water, and firewood which are considered to be for women in our area. Performing these duties during the day usually makes me feel embarrassed and this pisses me off. In the evening, I usually feel relaxed since I get into my house and sleep. Hence, I consider the evening as the happiest part of my day."

"My priority is to build a better kitchen house. The one I have is grass thatched and very old. Getting grass to cover the roof is difficult nowadays not like before. At the moment it leaks and lets in water during the rainy season because we have not been able to repair it due to the unavailability of the special variety of grass that is used for roofing. I plan to build a modern iron sheet roofed kitchen that will cost me approximately KES 35000. I intend to use the rest of the money to buy chairs cushions and a coffee table."

"Receiving this money means owning my own house. I am a widow and very old who cannot work anymore to get money that can help build a house. My house collapsed five years ago when my husband died. Since then I have been living in a kitchen where I cook and sleep. I have a family of three children who have their families as well. All of them come to cook in the same kitchen where I sleep. You can imagine how smoky it can be. However, I have nothing to do because I only depend on charcoal burning business to get food. This business earns me less than 400 KES a week. All I get is solely used for food and water. Upon receiving this money, I will be able to build a one bedroom house that will cost me 40000 KES. I will then use the remaining amount to buy a bed and a mattress and goats to keep as my investment for my future."

"The moment I received the transfer I felt so happy. I remember it was around 9am. When I heard a ringtone message from my phone. I was taking care of my cows. Since I do not know how to read I decided to called my daughter to check it for me. I felt so happy when I was inform that it's a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. We really celebrated with my daughter. I knew I would be able to buy a water tank and stopped the long distance walk to collect the water from the river. We went and withdrew the money the same day."

"The moment I received the transfer I felt so happy. I remember it was 2pm when I heard a ringtone message from my phone. I had waited for it since my neighbors had started receiving theirs morning hours. I was worried why I didn't receive mine, I decided to remain calm and collected. When I checked the message I felt so happy and the worries ended. I have never received such amount of money before. I went and withdrew the money the same day and bought a water tank."

"The biggest hardship I have faced in my life is lack of money to cater for my family's basic needs such as education, clothing and food. I do not have any reliable source of income which makes my family lead miserable life. The only occupation I rely own is the energy draining charcoal burning which only earns me peanuts. My husband is selling fresh water in town. However, due to the emergency of refined water, his business was drastically affected and he can only make KES. 300 a day. This is not sustainable at all and has led to suffering in my family of seven."

"It has always been my dream to build a more spacious iron-roofed house where I can harvest rainwater for domestic use when it rains and where I will not be forced to assemble all my beddings and clothes in one corner during the day. I never thought that I would ever be able to achieve this again due to my old age since currently, I depend on my children for most of the things as I cannot do any casual work. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for making my dream come true as I was able to use my transfer to achieve this thus changing my life. I am so excited and can't wait for it to be completed so that I can move in."

"My day starts with going to the farm, fetch water then I come back to cook for my children. I normally feel happy and relaxed in the afternoon when I catch asleep."

"I am a widow with six children. I was married as a fourth wife at a young age to an elderly man. He passed away ten years ago. Doing casual labor on farms and fetching water for other people is what I do for a living. My daily income is approximately 100 KES. Travailing to ensure I provide my children's school fees and meals is the challenge I currently face."

"The thing that made me happy, was the safety of my children yesterday. They almost left in water, but thank God."