"I am the sole provider for my five-person family (wife, two children, and mother). Working as a construction worker, the money I earn, around KES 2000 per week, is only enough to cover basic needs, such as food and school fees. As a result, it becomes difficult to allocate the income to other projects, such as purchasing livestock. That is why I planned to save KES 2,000 from the transfer through a self-help group. The goal is to raise KES 8,000 in four months to buy three goats. When these animals multiply in future, I intend to trade them for cows to help with agricultural tasks like plowing. Also, I will put these cattle out for hire during land preparation and generate money for my household needs. I spent the rest of the money to replenish food stuffs for my family to last for a week."

"My way of earning a livelihood is by keeping livestock, goats, sheep, and cow. In addition, I trade on livestock to supplement my household's income. Although I had first planned to spend my transfers on buying additional goats, I received it at the time when my baby, 1-month-old was very sick. I, therefore, spent the whole of my recent transfer on meeting the baby's medical costs. I am so glad that he is currently doing pretty well. He has fully recovered and that gives me joy. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly."

"Even before I got enrolled intonthe program by the organization, I always wanted to invest more into growing my farm by purchasing farm animals. I most yearned to own livestock but unfortunately they were quite costly. Therefore when I got introduced to the organization I took it as my chance to begin purchasing farm animals. So far I had bought three goats because cows are expensive and time round I bought another goat which cost me KES 2,500. I plan to allow the goats to breed so that finally I when I eventually decide to sell, I will have enough money to get a cow. Afterwards I used the balance of KES 500 I was left with and bought two packets of maize flour so that I could have a meal."

"Since I am part of a savings committee, as soon as I received the funds I decided to contribute KES 1,000 to my savings committee that has about ten participants. When the money accumulates and it is my turn to receive the funds I plan to use the money to buy a couple of goats and also pay for school fees of my children. After that I used KES 1,000 and paid tuition fee for my five children who still happen to be in school since they had been out of school for over three days. Eventually I was left with about KES 1,000 which I ended up using by ensuring my family and I had a meal so I bought five packets of maize flour."

"My father is our family's breadwinner. He makes a living by selling water on the streets of Mombasa.  Since his income is inconsistent and very low, he can only provide one meal per day, leaving our family of twelve hungry for the majority of the day. That is why, from the transfer, I contributed KES 1,600 to the purchase of food. Since then, we have been taking all three meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). I saved the rest of the money through a self-help group. By January of next year, I hope to have saved up around KES 10,000 to buy two goats for rearing."

"When I was enrolled into the cash program, my goal was to buy chicken through the initial transfers. This was made into a reality after I used KES 1,400 from the recent transfer to secure four hens. The goal is to allow them multiply and trade them off for goats in future, which will be a profitable addition to my income streams in times of need. Also, having woken up the morning of the transfer hungry because my household had run out of food the previous day, I used KES 800 to buy maize flour. Finally, I spent the remaining funds on two pairs of trousers for myself to replace the old ones that had worn out from repeated use."

"From my transfer, I spent KES 1,200 on buying food for my family. At that moment, I never had any food because I do not have a reliable source of income. Painfully, I just help in looking after people's livestock in order to earn a living, though at a very low pay. Therefore, with the transfer I am glad that I have been able to comfortably fend for my family. As a way of striving towards fulfilling my goal of raising livestock, I topped up the balance with part of my wife's savings to buy a goat."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that through the transfers, I was able to acquire livestock( a dairy cow and goats). This has always been my wish to own it but I wouldn't afford it because of the high cost of living. I choose to purchase them because the goats reproduce very fast which is evident that I will have many of them within a short period. Once they multiply, I will no longer strain to meet my daily basics like before. I have been depending on the charcoal business which was not profitable at all. Being a widow of three it has been that easy. Therefore shortly, I plan to sell some of the goats and sort out all my family's needs. Also with the cow, once it starts producing milk, I will start selling and pay school fees for my grandchildren. Through this investment, I do believe that my life will never be the same again."

"Since my house was small, it could not accommodate my family well, especially at times when we had visitors. Therefore, I opted not to expand it but to build a second house. I bought 24 pieces of iron sheets for KES 25200 and some poles and rafters. I also bought 3 goats for KES 10500.00 and a mattress for KES 6000.00. Thereafter, I decided to save the remaining amount for my family's needs."

"I have not yet used my most recent transfer, but I am planning to purchase a goat at KES 2500 and use KES 500 on foodstuffs for my family. Our parents raised with the income they earned through rearing goats. We do not have a favorable climate for farming and no business can do well, especially with the current economy. Since livestock does well in our area, they are therefore the best investment. I am sure that after one year they will have multiplied which will be a good source of income since I can sell some of them to raise money whenever I am in need."