"Being a farmer, I intend to prioritize increasing my acreage under farming by leasing additional land. Since I have experience in growing short seasoned crops, I intend to maximize on the available water from River Perkerra and expand on doing irrigation farming on the leased lands. I will inject 50% of my transfer to achieve this and use the remaining amount to sort out my immediate needs like food and household items. By doing this, I will have set myself into going one step up in terms of production or proceeds."

"We made the decision to try our luck into butternut farming in January. Butternut farming is lucrative but involves a lot of risk. Our biggest fear was making a loss, happily we had a bumper harvest and it earned us KES 120000 which was huge. We bought a 5000 liter plastic water tank which helped us harvest rain water."

"Coming from an area where irrigation is essential for farming, I have always hoped to own a water pump. Currently, I have to borrow one from my neighbors, but they are often busy and unable to lend it to me. This leads to delays in my farm activities, negatively impacting my produce. When I receive the transfers, I plan to spend $300 on a water pump to ensure my farm runs efficiently. Additionally, I will spend $200 to construct a pit latrine for my family, as we currently use the bushes, which exposes us to diseases. The remaining funds will go towards food and furniture for my family of five, improving our overall living conditions. I will be grateful for the assistance since it will be a boost to my wife's finances. Due to my medical condition, I am unable to fend for the family, and this support will help ease the burden she carries."

"For every family to live a better life, you need to have money. In our family we depend on casual jobs to have our daily bread as well as purchase other family basic needs like clothing. It is unfortunate that after working the whole day you are paid KES 300. This is little and is not able to sustain our livelihood. Unavailability of a stable source of income is making our life unbearable. We rarely afford three meals a day as a family which is so sad and embarrassing. Everyday I am walking up to 3 kilometers to fetch clean water for domestic use is another challenge for me. This is not healthy and it is tiresome, it also makes me vulnerable to backache and other health complications."

"My children have been sleeping on the floor on an old, small mattress, which has been a constant worry for me, especially during heavy rains when I feared water might seep into the house. Thanks to the financial support from Give Directly, I was able to purchase new bedding, something I couldn't afford as a small-scale farmer. Upon receiving recent transfers, I allocated $34 towards purchasing a bed and a mattress, supplementing it with some personal savings. Additionally, I invested $14 each in new school uniforms for my two children, as their current ones were no worn out. The remaining $28 has been set aside for future savings towards building a house."

"It was in the year 2020 when we were displaced by the rising water of lake Baringo, we had to relocate here since it is a safer ground. My priority was to buy a small piece of land with the little money I had KES 30,000. I had to build a temporary structure which has now turned out to be small and not enough for us. When I receive the transfers from GiveDirectly, I will plan KES 40,000 to build a spacious two roomed house for my family. We no longer do crop farming in our area since the place is not arable and extremely dry. I plan to invest KES 50,000 in livestock keeping. The area is favourable for livestock farming and bulls fattening."

"As a mother of seven, my greatest challenge is maintaining my health. I have been dealing with chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and asthma for over a decade, and these conditions have significantly impacted my ability to work and live my life to the fullest. I am no longer able to take on the casual jobs I used to do, such as charcoal burning and maize pounding, due to my limited physical capacity. The only activity I can still manage is subsistence farming, and even that is only seasonal. My health issues have made it difficult for me to earn a consistent income, and I often have to rely on my children for financial support when I am unable to generate enough funds on my own. Simple tasks like fetching water have also become challenging because I can no longer carry heavy loads or engage in strenuous activities. As a result, I have become more dependent than I ever anticipated, and it weighs heavily on me. Each day, my health presents new obstacles and robs me of the joy I once found in everyday activities."

"It was getting late in the evening, and I was busy searching for my missing bull, which had not returned home the day before. As I navigated through the rocky hills, my phone suddenly buzzed with a notification. Retrieving it from my pocket, I checked the message to see what it was about. To my surprise, it was a Mpesa message. Opening it, I confirmed the amount and its origin. I could not contain my happiness, as it was exactly what I needed at that moment. I had been worrying about my three acres of maize suffering from a lack of water, as the rains had not arrived yet. I lacked the money to buy petrol for my generator, which needed to pump water from a distant river for irrigation, I felt helpless. But with the money from the Mpesa transfer, my outlook changed instantly. I abandoned my search for the bull and hurried to town to purchase the petrol. By 6:00 PM, I was back and ready to begin irrigating my land. I am incredibly grateful for this timely assistance. It saved my only source of income, which I had already feared losing."

"Until last year, I worked as a waitress at a hotel but had to take a break to focus on farming because the rains had started. This meant that my three children and I solely depended on my husband for daily provisions, and honestly, it weighed heavily on him. Worse still, he also lost his job at a solar plant a few months later. Life took a dramatic turn, and I feared we wouldn't be able to support our children's education. At that point, I owned five goats, and my goal was to own as many livestock as possible. Without a stable source of income, at least rearing livestock would help me accumulate wealth as they reproduced, and I could sell them to raise school fees for my children in the future. So when I received the funds, I used $145 to buy three more goats to grow the herd. Additionally, my old mattress had become tattered from long use, and it was uncomfortable to sleep on. I spent $62 to buy a new one and I now enjoy my sleep. My husband and I had planned to lease at least two acres of land along River Galana for maize farming, but the area had flooded due to heavy rains upcountry. Farming along this area would ensure increased harvests and more food security for our family compared to farming in our village, where poor soil and climate hampered our produce. So, we decided to set aside $330 for leasing the land and paying for farming activities when the water dries up."

"Three years ago, my tiny one-room mud house was washed away by floodwaters from heavy rains, leaving me homeless. I took refuge in my eldest son's house, living with him and my daughter-in-law. Despite intruding on their privacy, I had no other option, as I am very old and financially dependent on my son. When I enrolled in the cash program, I set a goal to use the transfers to buy building materials like poles, iron sheets, and timber to build a new house for myself. Today, I am very happy to say that I have achieved this goal. Last month, I moved into my new house after more than three years of living in my son's home. I spent the entire $102 to purchase three pieces of iron sheets, timber, and to pay off the arrears to the mason who built the house. Words cannot express how happy I am to have achieved this goal and finally have a place to call my own. When my house collapsed three years ago, I was traumatized and stressed. Today, my heart is filled with joy, and I cannot thank Give Directly enough for the financial support I have received from the transfers."