"I was awakened by the loud vibration from my mobile phone at around 11 in the evening. I was a bit curious and surprised at the same since I wasn't expecting to hear from anyone at that particular time of the night. Therefore I decided to check the contents and I could believe what I saw. It was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly, I had finally received the first cash transfer as I had been promised some news weeks ago. I was so happy and thanked God for the financial breakthrough. I finally knew that the idea of owning some goats will finally be a success." (Country: Kenya)

"My friend came visiting very early in the morning, I thought maybe he had a problem, but I ruled this out because he was looking all happy, he then broke the good news that he had received money from GiveDirectly, I immediately rushed to the bedroom to switch on my phone, this is because I normally switch off my phone at night before retiring to bed, upon checking I realized that I had received the money the previous night at 11:34 pm, I was very happy and excited, I had booked a dairy cow from my friend, therefore I knew that I will be able to pay for it successfully." (Country: Kenya)

"Building a house has been one of my biggest dreams. I currently live in a grass-thatched house with my three children which are small for us. This is also the only house I have that acts as the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. It often gets smoky when cooking and it's small to accommodate visitors whenever I have visitors. I have started the plans of building another, but I stopped due to a lack of finances. I plan to use KES 30,000 to buy other building materials. For the rest of the amount, I plan to buy one cow so I will not be purchasing milk like I am doing at the moment." (Country: Kenya)

"I am an 88-year old woman and because of arthritis disease that I have, I feel so much pain whenever I walk. The distance between my main house and the kitchen is a bit distant and my desire is to bring them closer together so that I do not struggle as is the case now. Because of age, I do not engage in any economic activity that can earn me money to have another kitchen constructed. I plan to spend KES 15000 to build a spacious kitchen that is closer to my main house. Receiving this money will enable me to accomplish my desire of having a kitchen closer to the main house so that I can move easily between the two houses" (Country: Kenya)

"I have two children in secondary school and college whom I have to pay for their academic fees. I used to depend on maize farming as a source of income but over 5 years now the maize has been affected by lethal necrosis and its yield has reduced. I then resorted to casual jobs weeding peoples farm where I earn KES 100 per day however it is insufficient to meet all my household needs. So when I receive this transfer I will use KES 20000 to clear school fee arrears and the remaining amount I will use to complete house construction." (Country: Kenya)

(Country: Kenya)

(Country: Kenya)

(Country: Kenya)

"Inadequacy of financial resources has always crippled most of our projects. My husband works as a casual labuoror in construction sites. A job that pays him around 3000 KES weekly whenever he works for all the six days. This is way too little and can only get us food, but we still need clothes among other basic needs as well as paying school fees for our children." (Country: Kenya)

"I am a maize farmer, these past three years have been terrible so to say. When I pass by my two-acre land I get frustrated with how it is. It is dry and bushy and I long for the days I would wake up knowing my time would be well spent on the farm. Today, I buy everything I need from the shops, the prices are too high for me since I have no source of income, and I depend on my daughter's assistance to make ends meet." (Country: Kenya)