"The biggest difference in my daily life is the water tank that I bought with GiveDirectly transfers. My wife and children could travel for up to 2 kilometers a day in search for water. This often left them very tired and exhausted and they could not do an extra thing after travelling for such long distances. This had disturbed me a lot and I had thought of buying a water tank. However, the little amount of money that I made from my small business was hardly enough to do this. On receiving this money, I took it as a first priority to buy a water tank and since then my wife and children have had water to drink and for other household chores all year round. This has also given them the opportunity to do other things at home. I was also able to buy one dairy cow with the help of these transfers which has since reproduced and the offspring are going to be helpful in meeting other needs of the family."

"I spent my second transfer on buying a dairy cow at kes 22000. I then bought a water tank for storing rainwater at kes 15000. I also bought some utensils, a large cooking pot, and a nice kettle. I then bought some farm implements, a bed, and bedding."

"It was around 6:45 when I was going to fetch water from the dam, then I heard my phone ringing continuously. But because I am illiterate I could not comprehend the content of the message. I asked a friend of mine who had accompanied me to the dam to check what the message was all about. Upon checking he realized it was an mpesa from Give directly. I was so happy about receiving such a gift in my life."

"With the transfers, I am now a proud owner of a water tank that I use in harvesting rainwater. Due to this, my family now has access to clean water for domestic use most of the time. We only fetch water from the water pans for our livestock and cleaning purposes. Also, I have been able to properly fence my farm and my livestock no longer destroy my crops. Due to this, I am hopeful of increased yields this year since my crops will not be destroyed by my livestock or those of my neighbors. All this would not have been possible had it not have been for GiveDirectly."

"Longing for a new iron sheet house for the longest time was my biggest lower point in life . I actually succeeded to renovate the roof of my two houses that is my children's and our main house using the transfer from GiveDirectly. This has made my life to be totally different considering the fact that the previous one had a leaking roof. I had no hopes of constructing them since the little amount of money we were earning was majorly spent on paying school fees for my children and meeting their basic needs. I am now happy since we sleep under a new iron-roofed house hence mostly my children no longer worry of their books being rained on or staying in a wet house full of water and mud."

"I have lived in an ASAL area all my life. Some of the challenges that have come with it include water shortage, rampant droughts and malnutrition thanks to scarcity of food. Being a rocky terrain, crops like maize hardly grow and pasture fast depletes due to scorching sun. This is the biggest hardship I've faced in my life."

"Our house is built in a swampy area and we have been yearning to move it to a higher ground or to a better place within our land. We are currently experiencing heavy down pour and we are in a deplorable state owing to the fact that water oozes into the house. We are therefore planning to use part of our transfer from Give Directly to built a house in a better place."

"I expect my life to change in the next six months in that I would have also saved to buy a water tank. Getting water for domestic use at home is so tedious since we have to walk for a long distance."

"My life is currently different than how it would have been if I never received the transfer. This is because I no longer borrow money from my children most of the time. I can now meet most of my needs using the income that I now earn from the poultry project that I started using my transfers. Also, having clean tap water at my doorstep has changed my life in different ways. First, I no longer walk for long distances looking for water hence I can clean my clothes any time I feel like and this has enabled me to wear clean clothes all the time. Also, I sometimes earn an income by selling water to my neighbors especially during the dry seasons."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is the newly built house that I was able to build with my second transfer. Before we received this money, my family and I were living in a very small grass thatched house that had its roof leaking. We were not in a position to build a new house owing to our financial situation. The little we got from our subsistence farming was hardly enough to meet the basic household needs and we were left with very little to save if any. Building an iron roofed house was not only important in providing a decent shelter for my family but also provided us with an opportunity to gather rain water for drinking. My focus is now on purchasing a water tank to help me gather and store enough water during rainy season and travelling for long distance in search for water in the river will be a thing of the past."