"I am a trained carpenter having learned from a neighbor through apprenticeship. Lately, it has become hard to get jobs unlike before possibly because the cost of living has spiraled unlike before. I have had to look for other jobs to survive on, I am employed sometimes as a motorcycle rider and at the end of the day get paid depending on the amount of money I make, they use a commission basis. The pay is so little unlike my conventional job of house construction, coupled with the high cost of living my standard of living has taken a nose dive. It is a struggle to put food on the table nowadays."

"By the time I received the transfer, my form two son, Sammy, had been complaining about an overdue school fee balance. His older brother, who mainly finances his education, had not earned enough money from his motorcycle job to pay off the $15 debt. So I used part of the cash transfer to pay off the debt so he could study peacefully and take his end-of-year exams. At the same time, my family had just run out of food the night before, and I had no way of replenishing it. Fortunately, the transfer timing was perfect, and I spent $15 for maize flour and washing powder. To this day, there is still enough food for my two boys and me, for which I am immensely grateful to Give Directly. I used the rest transfer money to buy two hens. At least, I won't be worried about not having enough chicken to feed visitors whenever they come. "

"I have planned to build a house for my wife and children, the house that we are currently living in is owned by my father. I also want to build a small store attached to the house for business purposes." (Occupation: Motorcycle or bicycle taxi)

"Of all what GiveDirectly do that I love, I highly appreciate the aspect that the money isn't passed through any third party, the money is directly delivered to us." (Occupation: Motorcycle or bicycle taxi)

"In my opinion, GiveDirectly does not do anything wrongly. It's program has changed our lives for the best. We are so grateful for this opportunity. One of our major problems is cashing out our transfer. We travel over eight(8) hours on motorcycle to and fro just cash out. Due to the bad road condition in our country, we spend a lot of money on transportation and most times we get sick by the time we are back. One major thing GiveDirectly could do for the next village to make the process better is to include in its partnership with the GSM company, if possible, that every time transfer goes out the company can send an agent to our village to assist us in cashing out our money."

"I want to see many changes in my life like owning a business of my own that sustains me regularly, while a new house is being built." (Occupation: Motorcycle or bicycle taxi)

"Our main source of pain here in the village is getting a meaningful employment opportunity. I separated with my husband in the year 2020 and that marked the beginning of my struggles as a single mother with a special child. I two sons to take care of but the eldest one has a condition where he's not able to properly coordinate his body. This was the source of friction in my marriage and I knew we had to eventually part ways because my then husband wasn't ready to be part of this. The boy can't even lift a mug of porridge to his mouth, he should be getting some therapy sessions to improve but I'm not able to afford it. Since then I have tried my luck severally but nothing is coming forth, until I just decided to be burning charcoal and supplying to Kilifi town. I started this with $350 I got from table banking which I used to secure a motorcycle from a credit society at a deposit of $200. The rest of the money was spent on paying people to burn charcoal for me then my brother ferries using the motorcycle. But again I realized that the cost was extremely high that I couldn't get a good margin."

"I do not have any reliable sources of income at the moment. My husband is a motorcycle taxi rider at Kilifi town while I take care of our three children who're attending a local grade school right here in the village. I pay school fees totaling to $60 each academic term. Alongside that I also need around $50 monthly to be able to get family supplies like cooking oil, sugar, soaps among other things. My husband sends me around $10 weekly which isn't enough according to the needs of this family. I sometimes have to burn charcoal and sell to be able to supplement." (Occupation: Motorcycle or bicycle taxi)

"The lack of reliable sources of income is our main challenge as a family with two children at school. We do not have better ways of generating income and because we largely depend on subsistence farming, My husband is currently unemployed and has been surviving on the daily casual jobs that come his way like working as a motorcycle rider which earns him as little as $3 every day. As soon as we received our first transfer, we paid off $300 and got ownership of a piece of land to resume farming. I bought a bed for $70 because I wanted my daughter to have a separate bed from his brother. I paid $50, which cleared the long overdue school balance. The remaining amount was enough to buy the family food that lasted for the next two months. I was grateful because the funds came on time and I was not late in planting."

"Give Directly is doing everything perfectly. You have given us money to start businesses. Just the name Give Directly gives me a happy feeling. The fact that the money you give us is non refundable makes you the best. I actually see nothing you should improve on." (Occupation: Motorcycle or bicycle taxi)