"They say marriage is a bed of roses but in my case it was thorns. My husband was very violent and abusive. If I had not left I could have lost some of my fingers, and my face destroyed. The scars on my hands always remind me of the hell I was living in. Returning to my parent's for safety was the worst option I made in my life. They said it is a shame, and can not make anything good out of myself but a bad omen. This is something I never thought could come out of my brothers. They always mistreat my children calling them names and always pushing them away. My heart pains every time I see this happen. They deserve to be loved and protected. That is why I intend to buy at least one acre of land, a place they can call home. my children can also feel the bright side of life."

"lt was around four in the morning while still asleep when I heard an SMS notification on my phone. On checking, it was KES55000 from GiveDirectly and I was very happy and slept peacefully because I had already planned for it"

"It was around 12 midnight when I woke up and while checking time on my phone I had received KES55000 from GiveDirectly at around 11.30 pm that night. I was very excited and informed my husband of the good news and we good hardly sleep the latter part of the night."

"My husband is a teacher but he is not paid well and on time therefore, we do farming for survival. Due to the bad road conditions, our produced from the farm spoiled before reaching the city to sell. If God blessed me with this money, I will put zinc ontop of my house and used portion of the money to pay my children school fees."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am now a proud owner of goats. I settled for the goats because they require minimal supervision and they reproduce very fast as compared to the other domestic animals. Before the coming of GiveDirectly, I did not have any livestock in my homestead and this was as a result of the financial hardships that I was undergoing. Being the breadwinner of the family, who solely depend on the temporary jobs with meager incomes, it has been though all along more so the issue of paying schools for my kids. They were always at home because of the arrears which have been demotivating them and affecting their academic performance. Also most of the day, we had to skip meals which was the worst experience in our lives. Currently, I am a happy mother because, in case of any financial constraint, I will be able to sell one of the goats and sort out the problem. I believe that my children will now have smooth learning like the rest which has been my dream."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I will be able to sit for my exams at a technical institute after a long wait, this is because I never had enough money to register for the exams due to financial constraints, I am happy because I am hopeful that once I get the certificate I will be able to secure a stable job, I am grateful for the support that I got from GiveDirectly because it brought so much joy and happiness in my life."

"As I said I usually cut palm make oil to support my family but the plam is really hard to see now so to get money now is hard for me so my main challenge for now is money problem."

"The main challenge is insufficient finances. I am the sole provider to my three children since I lost my husband more than five years ago and I have raised them on my own. I work as a casual laborer at a Petrol station being paid KES 7000 a month which goes to meeting my household including food, school fee, and clothing. I do not own a cow and the small piece of land can not give me enough to feed my family."

"As I told you I was making business before but my business broke down because of my husband illnesses and now I do not have money to sell so I have to make cassava farm for my children and myself to sell before we eat so my current challenge right is money problem."

"I want to continue education to earn a degree, that will help me become a better person in society, but due to lack of money, all of my dreams have gone down the drain. Therefore I can say my major challenge faced is lack of finance."