"" my family and i have been living in someone house in the time past and this has been embarrassing. We will build a house with our transfer from GIVEDIRECTLY so that we live together as just a family"."

"I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. It was around 11:00pm and I heard my phone ring and when I checked I had indeed received money from GiveDirectly. I kept checking over and over again just to be sure that indeed I had been sent money from GiveDirectly. The next morning I brainstormed on how I was going to spend the money and later withdrew and started using the money."

"In my opinion, GiveDirectly did a great job in our village and even in other villages that it has been before ours. I am glad that they were open to everyone in explanation of the program details and knowledge conveyance right from the Baraza, in-house visits, registration calls, and even follow-up calls after the transfers. I was also impressed by the encouragement on the wise spending as this was taken seriously as evidenced by the outcome. We were enrolled without bias giving residents a chance to drastically improve their living standards. On the other hand, I still feel that some households were left out of the program based on the neighbors' reports on the owners' availability. Many had been suffering within the village for a long time before GiveDirectly came in and had no better options other than moving to the nearby towns where they would spend weeks and even months doing the casual jobs to earn a living. On coming back, they could not meet the five days a week criterion that was required by enrollment officers. An independent investigation by GiveDirectly without having to rely on the villagers would have given these people a chance to once again come back to the village where they could once again start a new life."

""The house we currently live in is an incomplete one that we have been building from the proceeds of crop we produce from our garden. Due to the low income from the garden, we are unable to finish the house and at the same time send our children to school. Because of the house is unfinished, we are not able to accommodate other relatives and guests. When I get my transfer from GiveDirectly, I will use portion of it to complete My family house, another portion to pay our children school fees while the remaining will be invested into small business to serve as a source of income for the family"."

""Since my house got damaged about a year ago, I have being scattering in relatives house in a room that is not comfortable at all. When I receive my transfer from GiveDirectly, I will use significant amount to build a good house for myself. I will also use the remaining portion to purchase housing utensils for myself to have a comfortable home"."

"The transfer has brought a very big difference in my life and that of my family. We are happier than before since we were able to buy the things we didn't have before, that is, a tank and a cow. The cow is about to calve. Apart from that, we also bought new clothes for ourselves and we have enough food to eat."

"It was around 11:30 pm and we were not yet asleep since our children were still studying and we were helping them study. Suddenly, I heard my phone ringing notifying me of a new message. I decided to check it and I could not believe my eyes when I opened the SMS to check the contents. The SMS was saying that we had received the promised transfer of KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy about the pleasant surprise and I showed my family the good news. They were so happy on seeing the SMS and we celebrated together giving thanks."

"We spent most of the transfer money on buying a water tank. We bought a 5000 litre tank at KES 32000. The water tank was our topmost priority upon receiving the transfer. This is because we usually make long trips to the river to fetch water, especially during the dry season. The tank was going to enable us to collect rainwater for our household use and thus we will no longer have to make the long trips. We were not able to buy the tank before because we didn't have the money. My husband is sickly and hence he is not able to work a lot. I am hence the breadwinner of the family and I usually depend on the milk sales to earn a living for my family of seven. Most of the money that I make usually goes to the payment of school fees for our five children and buying food, especially maize. Apart from the tank, we also spent KES 4150 on buying the gutters and installing them. We also bought two bags of maize at KES 3200 per bag, a bed at KES 4000, and a mattress at KES 3600. With the remaining amount of money, we used it in paying school fees, buying clothes for the children, and some foodstuffs for consumption during the Christmas day. We are so much thankful to GiveDirectly because all these became possible due to their help."

"I bought two and half bundles of zinc to start our house project, and then saved the balance cash. Thanks to GD"

"I used to sleep on a mat since I never had money for matress. I could go trapping for animals as a means of survival. Many days I had to eat plam cabbage until my trape catch. Since I received my first transfer from Givedirectly, I have started to plan for a better life. I hope to start building my house and begin to plant rubber any time soon. Life is getting better with me and the family in general."