""My family and I live in a one room house and the family is getting bigger. When I receive this cash transfer, I will use portion of it to build a new house for my family and use the balance for business which will serve as income generation for the family"."

"All of my children live in Monrovia and am here along as a widow. I find it difficult in getting money for my upkeep"

"I have always longed to build a beautiful home where I would spend time with my family. The muddy grass thatched single room that I was living with my wife and our child was not in good condition. I was living in a fear that I might be blown away by strong winds during the rainy seasons. I am employed as a motorcycle rider and the out of the the KES 500 that I earn per day, I usually give my boss Ksh 300 and I could save anything from the Kenya shillings two hundred that I'm left with. Being enrolled in the GiveDirectly program was a dream come true, I knew I will achieve my dream. I spent KES 29000 of my first transfer and buy iron sheets and pay the mason who was build my two rooms house. I also spent KES 21000 to buy a dairy cow and used the remaining balance of KES 4000 to pay school fees and buy some food."

"Previously, I didn't see myself going to college anytime soon because we were planning on tiling the house first. Now I'm hopeful that I will be joining college soon because the money that would have been spend on tilling the house will go to school fees."

"Nowadays, I never shy away from serving my guests food because I managed to buy some presentable plates. My children are able to concentrate in school because they nolonger leave in fear of being chased out of school everyday and thus that had improved their performance."

"My husband and the sole provider of our family has been employed as a motorbike taxi rider for the longest time and our wish has always been to buy his own motorbike. Since the highest that he can earn per day is KES 500 and comes home with KES 200 after giving his boss his share, he has never been able to save because he has to provide for the family. Upon being enrolled into the program, our goals was to buy a motorbike so that he can have a reliable source of income. We had sourced for a good second hand motorbike and after receiving the transfers, I spent KES 50000 to pay for the motorbike, KES 2000 to do the servicing and bought a sack of maize worth 1500. I'm a so grateful to GiveDirectly for the support."

"I have been married for over five years and my life has been full of sorrows all though. I have been sheltering under a temporary small house which could hardly accommodate all my family members. During the winter seasons, it was the worst of all because we could all squeeze ourselves into one corner of the house till the heavy downpours stops. My children were always sick as a result of the harsh climates, especially at night. I have been aspiring to at least renovate it but I couldn't afford it since the materials were very expensive. Being jobless, the little my spouse could earn was only enough for the daily meals and part of their school fees. This is evident that building the house using our cash would take years. I am now grateful because through the financial support I was able to build a permanent spacious house. We no longer have to worry about the rains and even the insecurity of our properties."

"During 2020 farming season, the crops I planted on my farm were destroyed by cattles and wildlife. As such during harvest, my family never havested any yied from our farm and right now there is no food in our storage to sustain my family for the coming rainy season."

"My greatest hardship right now is, my family and I live in my father's house that is occupied by a large group of external family members, because of this we are not afforded the necessary privacy we need."

"I used the money I received to buy 13 iron sheets. I am planning to build a house when the rainy season is over. I have a child who is in form 4 at a secondary school. I have been struggling to pay school fees for him. I took MK 50 000 to settle his fees balance. I also used the money to buy matress. I have a nice sleeping place now. I also used the money to buy a door and a door frame. Not only that but also 5 bags of maize for food processing."