"Life will be different upon receiving the transfers. This area has been affected by drought for a long. The dream of practicing agriculture has been buried and forgotten, purchasing a water tank to harvest enough water during rain has been my dream too, but due to lack of funds, it has not yet been implemented. As soon as I receive transfers I will take my ambition into action. I will use the water tank for irrigating my crops when it's too dry. This will guarantee me an income each day."

"My house is the major problem right now, the room I sleep in is very small, when rain falls, my room can get full with water, the mud on the house is leaving the stakes gradually, in few months I might not have a place to sleep."

"Receiving this money means agricultural production. For a long time, I have been relying on agricultural production to earn an income for my family. However this is not possible at the moment due to the longer periods of drought experienced in our village. I have a dream of buying a generator that will help me pump water from a river close to my house which overflows when it rains. However, this has not been possible due to lack of money. I depend on casual jobs to feed my family. These jobs are not reliable since you may get hired today and tomorrow you are fired. This has made me and my family to sleep outside because my house is collapsing and I have no money to rebuild it. Upon receiving this money, I will buy a generator and water pumps that will cost me 50000KES so that when it rains, I make use of the water to start irrigation farming. This will help me make a lot of money to build my dream house."

"The biggest hardship I face is hunger. I have a farm and a garden where I plant rice but for the past three years I have not been able to harvest anything. This has been due to floods near the lake. All the rice is covered in water as I am talking to you right now."

"Receiving this money from GiveDirectly means I will finally own a house. I have been living under a grass-thatched house for the past four years. The roof has been leaking and generally, life has not been easy at all. I am planning to use 60,000KES to build a two bedroom furnished house for my family of eight. I will use the balance from the transfer to buy goats. I have always had the desire of rearing goats but the harsh economic conditions have made it difficult for me to start this project. I opt for goats rearing because they can survive in this area unlike cows which require a lot of water. I will later sale the goats at a profit to educate my children."

"I was washing utensils after taking our breakfast when one of my children came to me with my phone claiming that there's an SMS that I had just received. Upon checking it, I became so happy as it was an Mpesa message indicating that Give Directly had deposited some amount into my account. This money gave me hope that I would finally be able to fulfill my dream of owning a water tank."

"My husband died 10 years ago. He was beaten by a dog while on his way to our nearest water pan. Due to financial problems, we could not afford to take him to hospital for medication. After few days, my husband started to bark like a dog, a condition which led to his untimely death. He left me behind with young children which needed close care and support for basic needs. Being unemployed, I struggled to provide for them. This led to my children not able to pursue their education goals, something that hurts me to date."

"Being a housewife, my duties entail doing households chores. Every morning, I am required to wake up early to walk 5 kilometers to fetch water for my family at the only water pan in the village. This is because we are currently experiencing drought in our area. I was on my way back from the water pan with my neighbour when I heard a loud message notification on my phone. Being illiterate, I passed over the phone to my neighbor who confirmed that it was the Mpesa message of the transfer from GiveDirectly. I felt very happy for receiving my transfer. Upon reaching home every villager was happy and celebrating receiving their transfer."

"Scarcity of food and water is the biggest hardship in my life. I have experienced this year in year out because of persistent drought . For the seven years of my marriage, I have been struggling to feed my children. I have two children who look up to me. My spouse is a herdsman far away from home. He earns a monthly income of KES 4,000. He sends me KES 1,000 which is barely enough to cater for all the needs of my children. I supplement this by selling firewood in order to get money for buying food and water. Nothing is left for other needs such as clothes, school fees and getting better shelter. It is really tough."

"Food insecurity is the biggest hardship in my life. It been two years since I harvested something from my farm. This is because of persistent drought in this region. Livestock are dying and water pans are dry. It takes one a half hours from my home to get to the nearest water pan. The water there is also not clean. For clean water, I have to spend KES 50 so as to get a 20 litre jerrican. Life is very expensive. I am a single mother depending on casual jobs which pay as little as KES 300 a day. All this goes into buying food and water leaving me with no extra money to support other needs."