"The death of my husband came as a big blow to my family. Raising six children singlehandedly has never been easy because I do not have a stable job. To sustain them, I burn charcoal which earns me a maximum of 700 shillings a month. This saw five of them missing education and only one managed to complete secondary school."

"The biggest difference is that I have been able to pay school fees for my siblings who have been struggling with their education for the last several years. I used to see my parent toiling excessively in order to keep the kids in school especially before we started getting the monthly transfers, but so far I have been able to chip in and made sure that no one is sent back home as a result of having some few school fees arrears."

"The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding my current transfer is the ability to play a role in my family in supporting the family projects and basic needs unlike before. I had been a housewife for my entire past life and always depended on my husband who had to struggle harder to meet the basic household needs and children education which was so demanding to him. My husband had used his saving to build a house for our family that could have stopped before its completion when the children school fees became more than his salary. When I started receiving the transfer from GD, I took a loan that I injected to the project and this the biggest difference in my daily life that with my efforts we were able to complete our house. I am so happy that I was part of such a decent, spacious good looking house construction and I can also be proud of. I served the loan with the monthly transfer from Givedirectly and I am happy that I have fully repaid it and have my house ready for use."

"My long life desire has been to own a businees that can sustain my family's basic needs. This aspiration has never come through because my job as a food vendor is not reliable as at today. I am forced to depend most on my husband who is doing a part time work as a carpenter. His income is not sufficient enough to cater for our family needs. Receiving this money means providing capital for my business and also enable my husband to start his own workshop. These businesses will be our reliable sources of income that can support our family's basic needs like food and education. I also plan to buy one cow for milk production, to supplly within the village. This will supplement our income and hence, this is basically what receiving this money means to me."

"My top Priority is to buy a plumbing machine and start my own plumbing business. I am a plumber for a construction company hired on a contract basis and sometimes I see them hiring plumbing machines for construction.Having my own plumbing machine will be able to generate income by allowing companies to hire from me. Secondly I will use part of the money to help boost my wife's retail shop here in Mathare. Her shop is quite small as she sells in small scale. The transfer will be used to expand her shop and buy products in bulk. Both ventures will help our finances grow and sustain our household needs. Lastly I will pay school fees for my child. It stresses me to see him sent home for fee arrears and as his father I feel that I am disappointing him and that I am not meeting my responsibility of providing him quality education. By paying his school fees I am sure that he can go to school without worrying about being sent home for fee arrears."

"Life in our village is so challenging that, providing food, shelter, clothing and education is big achievement. My desire has been to live a happy life with my family but since I am jobless, my wife opted to separate me six years ago. I plan to reshape my life for the better when I receive the transfers from GiveDirectly. I will buy an oxen and ox plough with my first disbursement in order to upscale my farming and also to construct a spacious house for myself. The other transfer will help me to start livestock business, an investment that will provide me with an income to cater for my daily needs. Therefore, this is basically what receiving this money means to me."

"My first priority is to invest in a new business. I am a plumber, I get work referrals from other tradepersons. I want to buy my own tools, drills and a plumbing machine which will enable me to put up my own business. With this I will not have to share the payment I get with other tradepersons when I work. Secondly, my brother and I run a soda business, we sell coca cola sodas at retail. I want to add more stock, diversify to selling pepsi sodas and supply both in wholesale and retail. This will increase our profits and I can then buy a machine for cooking fresh fries and sell them together. I am confident of this two businesses since they go hand in hand and its location is very favourable. I do not have to rent a room, it is free of charge, it is near our hall and where we run our washroom and toilet business as a group. Lastly, I have a daughter who is in Pre primary and I would like to transfer her to a better school like Moi Air Base primary school for her to get quality education, the other advantage is that it is just near my place of residence, access for her will be easy. Admission to this school is the main challenge, the fee is high but once she is admitted the tution money per term is affordable. I want her to study to the highest level she can attain."

"My ambition is to become a successful business woman in future. I would want to open a salon and a boutique in Huruma Mathare. Currently I do not have any skill in hairdressing but because of the passion that I have, I plan to enroll in a technical school in order to acquire the skill. I believe that this business will change my life completely because I will be in a position to provide for my son's daily upkeep. This will give me an opportunity to move him out of Mathare slums because it is not a conducive environment with alot of challenges. I always fear that he may end up engaging in drugs, crime or early marriage. I would want him to have a good life as well as having quality education."

"My life is currently different from how it was four months ago since I have been able to enroll my children in a private primary school to better the quality of education because before when they were in a public school. Then they could associate with their peers who were in private school there was a noticeable difference in their level of illiteracy and exposure. Enrolling them in a private school was not possible before since I could not afford due to lack of money. Therefore,ever since I changed them to a new school, their performances have greatly improved since they now get quality education and coaching."

"The biggest hardship I have faced is lack of money to cater for the family's basic needs like education, madical care and feeding."