"Food insecurity has been the biggest challenge that we are currently facing as a family. The prolonged drought has made food prices to go up and the little that I earn from daily wages cannot cater for all the family needs."

"With the prolonged drought in my country, there are very few people building houses and therefore there are no jobs. This has so far affected my income as I have depleted all the savings that I had put in place to cater for for basic needs."

"My wife died eight years ago and since none of my children stays around, I have been struggling to do everything by myself. Sometimes I don't manage to cook and end up relying on neighbors and well wishes for food."

"My house roof was curried away by wind the other day. I'm living in fear of being rained on because rainy season is almost here. My house walls are also very weak and at verge of collapsing. I'm planning to buy iron sheets on credit and pay in bit with the monthly transfers that I will be receiving. I'm also planning to strengthen the weak walls with cement but this will come later after I'm done with the roofing and settling the debts."

"Receiving this money means owning a new house and a business at the same time. My current house is very old plus many cracks on the walls. This has been life-threatening because the weak walls might collapse anytime from now. I am always worried whenever I retire to bed at night. I am planning to use 40,000KES to construct a two-bedroom house for my family of eight. One bedroom will host my children while the second bedroom will be for my husband and I. I will use a further 30,000KES to start a modern grocery in the neighboring trading center. The profits from the grocery will help me assist my husband in raising our children because I will chip in whether it comes to paying school fees, buying food and any other family need."

"Receiving this money means food security for my family of eight. I have been struggling to put something on the table for 11 months now. Drought has really affected my family's food production and the last time I harvested was a year ago and the harvest wasn't that good. I only harvested 3 bags of maize which served us for two months only. There is no hope that I will ever harvest again in my farm because the prolonged drought has taken away all the hopes I had before. I am planning to use 20,000KES to hire 5 acres of land in the neighbouring county for two farming seasons each acre valued at 4,000KES. I will further use 30,000KES for tilling, planting and transportation of the harvest back to my village. With five acres, I'm sure of harvesting 20 bags of maize every season. This will be enough to feed my family for a whole year and this will serve as a permanent solution to food insecurity."

"The biggest challenge I am currently facing is lack of money to sustain my family. I am currently jobless idling around in the village. This has forced my wife to go for a housekeeper job in the neighborhood something I was not happy about but I was left with no option but accept. I am currently not making any financial contributions towards the welfare of my family. This is a big shame according to our culture where a man is expected to be the breadwinner of the family."

"Imagine 2 years down the line after completing secondary school and I'm yet to join any institution of higher learning. This is the biggest challenge I'm currently going through. This is not what I have been dreaming about during my primary and secondary school days. It is really stressing to me seeing all my colleagues join different colleges and universities in different parts of the country."

"The biggest challenge I am currently facing is the inability to cater for my children school fees. My children are always home now and then because I am unable to pay their school fees. Sometimes they spend a whole week at home until I get money. The bitter part of this all is that this has had a negative impact on their academic performance and their performance is now poor."

"With the money I earn per month as a primary school teacher, I have been unable to fully sustain my family 12. With 27 years in service as a primary school teacher, I still have nothing to show given the burden of responsibility that has become unbearable. Receiving this money from GiveDirectly means I will be able to supplement my income source with a business. I am planning to start a petrol selling business in the village. My compound is close to our nearest trading center. With a lot of youth engaged in motorcycle riding, I believe this will be the ideal place to start my business. I already constructed a structure in the trading center and this is advantageous in that I won't incur the extra costs of renting a shop. I will save the profits from the business to take my two children to university."