"I have so much and already my husband is working as a house help but still both of us are struggling to educate my 2 school aged kids who remain at home for lack of fees.Another challenge is I have 3 children who are in teenage years and we are struggling to share the small house together, with me and my spouse. For my teenage children there is no privacy at all and i feel it is shameful for us as parents."

"Lack of a good source of income is the biggest hardship I am currently facing. I work as a casual laborer in town. In a day I make at least 500 KES but it is not guaranteed. The wages are not enough to sustain all our basic needs such as shelter and school fees. This is the main reason which has contributed to my children seeking shelter from neighbors."

"We should all agree that clean water is a basic need in each family but sadly, this is not the case for my family of 4. Access to clean sufficient water is a challenge I am currently facing as I have to move between homesteads with boreholes to fetch some. This is draining especially now that it is a drought season here and they at times deny me access for they preserve some for their cattle and households. The only option remaining is to access this basic need from the river that is 1.5kms away. This consumes most of my time and energy that I could have otherwise used to fend for my family therefore this saddens me."

"When I received two consecutive messages on my phone, I became curious to know its contents as no one had ever sent me two consecutive SMSes in a day. Upon reading them, I became so happy to know that one was from Mpesa indicating that I had received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. That SMS gave me hope that I would finally fulfill my heart's desires."

"The challenge I am currently facing is my kidney related illness. I have been struggling with kidney related complications for the last two years. I was advised by a doctor to no longer work for longer periods. This has really had an effect on my economic productivity. Tailoring is my occupation. Before, I used to make a profit of approximately 400 KES per day. As at now, I only make 200 KES on a good day. With the reduced earnings, I really struggle to run my tailoring business."

"As a family, we are currently facing the inadequacy of some vital needs and services, especially food. This is because we do farming and reside on 0.5 acres of land. We feel congested since the piece of land is relatively not enough to accommodate our two cows, some poultry, and crop farming. Also, the disability that I have adversely affects my farming activities. Overall, we feel that we are leading a substandard lifestyle."

"Managing to sustain and grow my small business has been very beneficial especially since I no longer have to burden my sons with financial responsibility and the funds have also enabled me to cater for the tuition of my grandchildren which is very vital to me since I they have been my sole responsibility ever since their mother, my daughter passed away."

"The transfers have given me a form of empowerment because ever since I lost my spouse some years back the finances became very hard and most times I have to rely on my daughter who does manual jobs from time to time to provide for both me and her but ever since the money came I managed to ensure I could afford a meal because at times I had to go to bed hungry and hopefully in the near future the funds will help me rebuild my house which has been long overdue so I am grateful."

"The sustainability and growth has been quite tremendous both financially and mentally and I am so glad that finally my children are going to fit in just like the other children and I am so sure they will be very elated."

"The funds have created sustainability especially in the financial aspect because apart from my one child, I also play a father figure role to my three nephews since they became my responsibility after the passing of their mother who was my sister, and at times providing for them was very difficult but with the funds I got to keep my business flourishing and in turn help in raising and growing my family with no difficulty as compared to before."