"My life has got better because I have been in position to plaster my house both in and out, I am now staying in a decent house. I have also been relieved from the debt burden that I had and I was enable to get back my acre of land which had acted as security. I am also having better bedings, utensils and a water drum. Before, I used to stay in a dusty house because I didn't have funds to plaster it. I had a lot off stress as a result of the debt."

"I spent my first transfer on hiring a piece of farmland worth UGX 100,000 per annum and I bought a a sack of groundnut seeds worth UGX 100,000. I then proceeded to purchase 24 pieces of iron sheets worth UGX 888,000.I bought one cow worth UGX 150,000. I also bought one water tank worth UGX 70,000 and the remaining portion of the cash transfer was spent on buying food and house hold items like clothes for my family."

"I spent my first transfer for purchasing 4 trips of bricks , 6 bags of cement, timber and 19 pieces of iron sheets at UGX 1389,000. I also paid labour for building and fetching water at UGX 311,000."

"Basically, being able to own a bicycle is the biggest difference in my daily life as it helps me a lot in transportation in terms of taking children to hospital when they get ill, fatching water since the spring is is really far. The bicycle and carry more water than just carrying one at a time, going to grind as the grinding mill is really far and generally any other transportation that comes up. Before, transportation was really an issue as I used to wait on some one to help me with their personal transport means to run my errands."

"My life is currently different in that I have bought a water container for storing clean water for domestic use. Before we could walk for a long distance to fetch water and this was so tedious and time-consuming. My children now have clean water for use and we save enough time to do other chores at home."

"Financial instability is the biggest hardship that I face in life.I do not have any job and my husband's income from vending water in Mombasa rarely generates enough to cater for all our needs. We have not been able to build a decent shelter to boost of and come night fall,my children keep shifting from house to house seeking for a place to lay. When they miss, the eight of us,are all forced to crumble in our small house. Being that six out of the seven happen to be all men in their adolescent years,it feels so embarrassing to be sharing the same small structure with them since everyone's privacy tends to be interfered with."

"As a maize farmer, my desire has always been to produce enough amount that is sufficient for domestic consumption, and again be able to sell surplus to the outside market. For us maize is stable food. With the unpredictable weather and harsh climatical conditions coupled with unavailability of proper mode of land tillage, farming has been rendered unproductive. That said, I will use part of my transfers to purchase two oxen and a plough, something I've dreamt of owning for quite some time. Apart from maize farming, I want to diversify into other drought resistant crops like watermelon and cassava. For me, being food secured is my top priority. Currently, I spend a lot of money is purchasing maize flour from shops, something that am capable of producing in my farm. Once I cut the huge expenses I've been incurring on food, other needs of the family like education, health care and clothing will be easily addressed."

"The new goal for my life for the next four months is to build a poultry den. This is because we are currently sharing the same room with my hens. Besides, I endeavor to buy a water tank for storing rainwater. This is because the practice of fetching water from the river tends to be tedious. Accordingly, I will save the money that I get from GiveDirectly to finance the project."

"I am a fulltime housewife. My day involves fetching water for domestic use in a river about 3 kilometers away from home, preparing meals for the family and looking after our cattle. It is until evening that I relinquish some of these duties to my children after they're out of school. This is the only moment I take a good rest and this is the happiest part of my day. "

"Drought and famine is a real threat in our area that has affected many once before, I am seeing signs of it re-emerging and it has become a great concern. My farm is not producing enough and I have to dig deep into my pockets to buy food for my family posing a threat to my business because what is spent is more than the profit gained. Water is also becoming scarce because our water pans are almost drying up due to lack of rainfall. Both humans and animals are forced to share sources of water due to this scarcity posing a great risk to our health."