"In the past 6 months I have drawn my happiness from the rains that we received in the month of April. Since it has been 3 years since we got such heavy rains I was very happy. This gave me hope since water is an important commodity both for our domestic use and for our livestock."

"As a mason, it has been challenging to find tasks because many people from my region can barely afford to construct new houses. Moreover, the drought has further affected construction activities, as water is scarce. During a period when my job as a mason is on hold, the cash transfers come as a relief. Recently, I was able to use a portion of the funds to pay the overdue school fees for my child, which amounted to $8. With the remaining balance, I purchased food for my family, which lasted a few weeks until I was able to raise money for more food. Currently, I am engaged in charcoal production, which requires spending approximately two months in the bushes to produce charcoal. Although the activity is physically demanding and yields low income, it serves as the main income generation to support my wife and three children as of now."

"The financial situation at home is extremely challenging, as my father, who is the sole provider for our family, relies on hawking water in town to make ends meet. His income from this business is meager, making it difficult for him to meet our basic needs, including food and education expenses for my five siblings and me. Unfortunately, two of my younger brothers had to drop out of kindergarten because of unpaid fees, and my father hasn't been able to bring them back to school. Moreover, after I completed grade eight last year, my father advised me to find a job in town since there was no money to support my high school education. However, with the help of cash transfers, I took a leap of faith and enrolled myself in high school three months ago. Since then, I have been utilizing every penny from the transfers to cover my tuition costs. I am grateful to say that I have been progressing well in my studies and have not missed a single class. I firmly believe that education is the key to transforming my family's circumstances for the better, and I attribute my current progress to the support provided by Give Directly."

"I am immensely grateful to GiveDirectly for their exceptional work in supporting the well-being of our community. The financial support they provide has been instrumental in addressing our needs. The fairness of their approach has ensured an equitable distribution of free cash transfers across all the villages, promoting inclusivity and unity. I must applaud GiveDirectly for their smooth execution of the program, as everything is flawlessly coordinated. The timeliness and convenience of their support are truly remarkable. By depositing the funds directly into individual accounts, recipients like myself have the freedom to utilize the money whenever it is most needed. This has brought a great sense of convenience to our lives. While GiveDirectly has done an outstanding job in providing direct financial support, there is an opportunity for them to expand their impact further. It would be beneficial for them to explore additional initiatives or partnerships that address other essential aspects such as education, healthcare, or waterprojects. By taking a more comprehensive approach, GiveDirectly could have an even greater transformative effect on our lives and the long-term development of our community. Nonetheless, I am sincerely grateful to GiveDirectly for their invaluable support, which has significantly improved the well-being of our community."

"I used to have livestock but when the drought persisted I took my livestock to Arabal in Mochongoi in search for water and pasture little did I know that was going to be the genesis of my problems. It did not take long before the bandits from pokot strike and took away all my livestock comprising of 42 cows and 190 goats leaving me with nothing but abject poverty. The events shook me to the core, it took me along time to come to terms with it. It is then that I came to the village to reconstruct my life but it has never been easy. We are grappling with a serious challenge of food insecurity, putting food on the table is an uphill task. This has been further worsened by the ever increasing cost of living. So worse is the situation that I have no idea where the next meal will come from, mark you I fend for an elderly mother who is also sickly.Life is hard and unbearable."

"My happiness in the past 6 months came from the rains we received in April. This delighted me so much since the environment has become greener and I don't have to walk for long distances to fetch water. I'm happy and grateful to God for the rains."

"Upscaling my farming is generally what I have in my mind but because of financial instability, this has always been postponed. To an extent, I have not been able to meet some of my priorities. At the moment, I have already constructed an underground water tank that has a capacity of 30,000 liters, but I am yet to put the top slab. I did this because I have a passion for farming which has been affected by the drought problem in our area. Since I have a huge land, I will be able to implement this and I will do irrigation to plant different fruits and vegetables. This will act as my source of income to sustain my household's basic needs. To ensure this comes to reality, I intend to spend $670 of my money to sort out this plan. On the other hand, I will spend the remaining amount to support my son who is about to join a technical institution. Hence, this is generally what receiving this money means to me."

"My objective is to grow short-term crops like green grams for both domestic and commercial use because we can water our farms. I want to take advantage of the drought's increased demand for these grains in order to increase my revenues. The money from that will enable me to take care of other home expenses and have enough to invest back into the farm to expand activities."

"I have endured a protracted period of poverty. I can no longer perform laborious tasks like fetching water or performing some menial occupations because of my advanced age. As a result, I intend to invest in livestock farming, particularly the raising of goats. This is a fantastic investment since not only will the number grow quickly, but I will also receive milk that I can count on when I don't have any money for food. In addition, I will occasionally sell them to raise money for food purchases, primarily maize flour."

"Living in a dry environment has more drawbacks than advantages. First, in order to find water for irrigation and domestic usage, one must always trek a considerable distance. Food is also an issue since, if we don't use irrigation, we always have to get used to harvesting nothing. I purchased a water tank for KES 21500 to store water with my second batch of the transfer. Rainwater will be collected and used in my home for domestic reasons. In order to prevent my kids from being taken back home, I also spent KES 7,000 on paying a portion of the fee arrears. I purchased 40 kg of corn for our consumption and other food products with the remaining money."