"When my husband passed away, I was left with five children to fend for. Having no one to support me, charcoal burning was the immediate solution to curb poverty. In a month, I make almost KES 1000 from this business, which hardly provides for our needs considering the rising commodity prices. To enjoy decent meals, the household requires at least three bales of maize flour monthly. Sadly, my income can barely secure one bale. We experience the worst scenarios of starvation, persevering through the day on only a cup of black tea and consuming at most one solid meal on a good day. Therefore, this pushed me to use the entire transfer amount, KES 1,200, on food."

"I struggle so much to put meals on the table. My charcoal business is currently not doing well due to a lack of potential customers. The high food prices have made the situation worse. In a week, I spend a minimum of three days sleeping on an empty stomach. When I received my first transfer, I spent KES 770 on buying food. The main reason for buying food in bulk was to give me ample time to save money that I will use to buy food when my stock runs out. Besides buying the food, I spent KES 400 as savings in a Chama. With my business not doing well, I want to save as much as I can so that I can use the money to start a new business and earn a better income."

"Am a widow, and I do charcoal burning as my income generating activity, which at the moment it's not selling at all, and prices given by customers is way too low. Educating my only daughter who is in secondary School has been very strainous, upon receiving the transfer, I plan to pay her school fees fully, and use remaining amount to buy food for my family."

"The drought we have been experiencing for over 2 years in this area has seriously undermined food security. I depend on subsistence farming to provide food for my household. For over two years now, this region has not received any reliable rainfall. Whenever I try to plant maize, all the crops dry up in no time. I have been struggling in terms of getting food for consumption. The saddest part is that the situation is worsening. The remaining alternative is to buy foodstuffs from shops. This choice is very expensive because food prices are skyrocketing. After doing a little research, I found out that livestock production can save me from this trouble. Because goats can survive in dry areas, I will buy 5 of them at a total cost of 15,000 KES. With time, the animals will increase in number and I will be selling them for food."

"Food insecurity is the greatest challenge I am currently facing. I have been working as a tailor since 2016. With an approximate income of 250 KES per day, I could purchase foodstuffs enough for the entire day. Presently, the 250 KES is not enough to even cater 2 meals for my 3 children. This is attributed to the rising food prices. Of late, we have been consuming two meals per day instead of three."

"Both my husband and I have been burning and selling charcoal to provide for our six children and pay school fees for four of them who are school going. For sometimes now, the business has not been doing well due to saturation because majority of people in the area have turned into the business since they cannot do farming anymore due to drought. The charcoal prices have gone down and therefore very low returns which is not enough to provide for my family given the rising standards of living. A sack of charcoal which we used to sell at KES 800 now goes for KES 400. We have been thriving in debts and life has become very challenging for us. All my children's school uniform became torn and they had to start wearing non- school uniform. I spend KES 1000 to buy school uniform for two of them and I'm looking forward to buy the other two when I received next month's transfer. I also spent KES 1000 to pay debts and KES 1000 to buy maize floor which can last us for two weeks."

"In my community, there are very few casual job opportunities available. As a result, I have always relied on charcoal making as my only avenue for income generation. However, getting the market for charcoal is pretty hard thus I experience an unsteady flow of income. Immediately I received my transfer, I opted to spend it on buying food. Due to the rise in food prices and prolonged drought, every household tends to prioritize buying food whenever it gets some income. Since I have a family of 5, the food I bought could take my family for about 3 weeks. With this aid, I shall be able to channel my income in renovating my house."

"Since I had never received such kind of support in my lifetime, I felt so good and extremely happy when I confirmed the receipt of my transfer. I was so happy because with the transfer, I was certain that it would be possible to acquire additional stock for the business. As a result, I would be able to supplement the income from tailoring services which has drastically gone down due to the hike in prices of tailoring materials."

"I am planning to use the GiveDirectly transfers to boost my grocery business in the village. Food prices are high and this requires a larger stock to increase my daily sales. I will use KES 20,000 from the transfers to restock my grocery and use the profits to sustain my family. I will use the balance to educate my siblings. The death of my father was the beginning of suffering in my family and more so two siblings had to drop out of school. I will support them till they complete their studies."

"I'm newly married not yet decided what I would want to do economically in the village, but I have always wanted to try out chicken business. I'm not exactly sure where the all season chicken market is and whether the traders who collect from the village offer good prices. When I get the money it will help me start an income generating venture around selling chicken. I want to keep the local breed that is somehow rare, expensive and marketable so that I would be able to make sales in this flooded market. Also there are normally big market during festive season and I can still cash in from that. It will make me extremely happy if I manage to get this off the ground."