"Over the December holidays, I received some orders for making new dresses for Christmas celebration. I made good money. I used part of this money to pay for my child's education and planned part of it for food stock in my house. I bought two goats to keep in my house as wealthy. What gives me joy and happiness is that one of my goats had given birth to a she lamb and I believe they will multiply."

"I spent KES 40,000 from my first transfer on buying building materials for constructing a new house. I had been living in a singled roomed house together with my 5 children. Due to high occupancy, the house looked too squeezed although we had to bear with the situation because we never had an option. I am so glad that the current house has three rooms, one specifically set apart for my children. Since I was relying on quarrying activity characterized by delayed payment, paying fees became hard. I, therefore, paid school fees of KES 5,000. In addition, I bought a goat for KES 2,000 with the anticipation of raising livestock. Lastly, I bought food with a balance of KES 8,000."

"About five years ago, I built a modern timber-framed walled and Iron roofed house but ran short of money to cement the floor and ceil it. So when I received my transfers, I used 80% of it on the purchase of construction materials like sand, gravel, cement, and ceiling boards. These have enabled me to upgrade the mud floor to a cemented one and cell it. As a result, the house is more comfortable than before and my grand kids love it. Secondly, I spent KES 7,000 on two goats. This is because they reproduce twice a year and can be sold when in a financial crisis. Thirdly, I bought a pair of rubber shoes at KES 300. Lastly, I spent KES 4,000 on a bag of maize of which the remaining will sustain me for the next week only. Earlier, to get food, I depend on small-scale farming of maize and vegetable farming and weaving baskets."

"I used KES 35000 to buy a dairy cow and used KES 8000 to buy maize for consumption and used another KES 5000 to pay school fees for my son and used another KES 3000 to seek medication for an ailment that befell me. I was left with KES 5000 that I used to buy a goat to add onto my flock. For a long time I did not have a cow of my own having bought one in the past but which accidentally died and left me with nothing to help my family. I am so happy that I was able to buy to he dairy cow that I bought and that this dairy cow shall be of great help to me in terms of boosting my finances and helping in general wellbeing of my family."

"As a result of the low availability of casual jobs, I had not been having a steady source of income since the beginning of the year. A situation that subjected me to being unable to pay school fees for my children hence accumulated fee arrears. Therefore when I received my first transfer, I was able to spend KES 20,000 on clearing the fee arrears. In addition, I spent KES 5,000 on buying a goat and I am glad that currently, I own one. Since I have not been having a pit latrine, I decided to use a portion of my transfer to initiate building one. This will save my image from the neighborhood which had begun complaining whenever we share their pit latrine. Lastly, I spent KES 7,500 on buying food and KES 3,600 on buying a mattress 3,600. Basically, my life has positively changed courtesy of the transfer."

"A while back, there were famines in my area that led to me losing 35 of my cows.  Normally I would sell them to get funds for both my children's school fees and my family's upkeep. Now that I only had 5cows left, it became quite hard for me to meet most of my needs. But this changed ever since I started receiving funds from give directly. I have seen a great difference in my life in that, I have been able to work on the plan (house construction) I had halted due to insufficient finances. I also got to pay my children's school fee arrears and purchase 5 more goats to rear."

"There has been a great difference in my life as we can now consistently put food on the table, unlike before, where there were days when we were forced to sleep hungry as there was no food in the house. This often happened when I never got to make any sales in my work as a traditional palm wine brewer. Whatever earnings I made; I would always dedicate it to the children's school fees. I was also able to improve my livestock farming by adding two goats to the 13 I hard making the total count 15."

"After my husband and I divorced, I moved back to my father's compound. He was very supportive and from there, I was able to ensure that my children's needs were met. Even so, this has been quite challenging as I am a livestock farmer and I have to wait for the goats to grow so I can sell them. The wait is what has made me have financial constraints and thereby incur debts along the way. Now that I started receiving funds from give directly, there has been a great difference in my life as I have been able to settle my debts. That is, settling the payment of the land I live in and my children's school fees arrears. I was also able to improve my business by adding five more goats to the 5 I had."

"I spend KES 27,000 on purchasing a heifer. I will be able to get enough milk for my family when it reproduces. I spent KES 8,000 on purchasing two sacks of main for my family. KES 5,000 on clothes for my children and the rest of the money I invested in my business of buying goats from farmers and selling them at a higher price at the market."

"When I withdrew the money, I opted to buy a bed and a mattress for KES 15000.00 because I had neither a bed nor a mat to sleep on. I also paid KES 4000.00 school fees for my two primary school children because they were being sent home regularly because of the fee arrears they had. After settling the school fee issue, I bought some school uniforms for them for KES 1500.00. I also bought four goats and five chickens at KES 12000.00 and 2000.00 respectively. Thereafter, I used the remaining amount in buying some food and clothes for the family."