"Paying school fees has been my main challenge because I do not have a consistent income. I have 9 children, 6 of them had to drop out of school because of a lack of money to pay their school fees. It is every parent's wish to see their children throughout school until they get to a stage where they can depend on their own unfortunately this is not the case for me."

"Getting food and water has been my greatest challenge because of the prolonged drought. I walk for 6 hours to and fro to fetch water, at my old age doing this every day is not easy and sometimes I end up taking the whole day for one trip. I get tired and have backache in the evening because of the long distance."

"No I do not have any new goals"

"I have had prolonged right leg pains for two years now. Walking has been difficult and at times I use some walking sticks. This has made it impossible for me to perform my day to day activities such as charcoal burning. I am under medication right now although the medicine I use are very expensive and at times I fail to buy the required quantity as prescribed by the doctor."

"Life has been tough in the village because as a family we lack a reliable source of income. We rely on my husband's charcoal burning occupation which is no longer sustainable. I am planning to start a second-hand clothes selling business in the nearby trading center using the GiveDirectly transfers so as to support my husband in raising our children. This business will require a capital of 40,000KES. I will be buying second-hand clothes from the nearest city where a bale of second-hand clothes goes for 17,000KES meaning I can start with 2 bales. From experience, one bale will give me a profit of approximately 10,000KES in a month. This will be a big boost to my family because with a profit of 10,000KES per bale, I am sure my family will not go a day without food and my children will be guaranteed of quality education."

"At the moment, honestly, I can't complain of any major challenge. Much as there is drought, I have children who are working in Mombasa and they normally send financial help. It is not much but when it comes in, we add to what we'll have made and plan our budget according to what we have at hand."

"I have been experiencing rib pains for over four years now. I have been able to seek some medical attention from hospitals around. However, I'm yet to get a permanent solutions to my problem. I have spent a lot of money in hospitals given that the cost of an x-ray is very high in most hospitals. This is the biggest challenge I'm currently facing in my life."

"Being a farmer in my earlier years, I developed a great love for livestock. When I got married, I took a break from it and focused on raising and taking care of my family. Nowadays, the children are all grown and all I'm left to do when they are in school is go cut firewood for sale. This drought is unpredictable but I'd like to buy some livestock and rear for resale shortly. In the meantime, I will save half of my monthly transfers in preparation for buying them. The remaining half I'll split between buying food and paying my children's school fees."

"We depend on my husband for all our financial needs. His income is not as much because he sells charcoal. We barely have enough money to meet our needs and this has been a wake-up call to my grown daughter and me. We need to also pull the weight and think about getting into bigger businesses like an eatery. Our combined effort I believe will improve our financial situation."

"Receiving this money means a decent and spacious house for my family of eight. We currently reside in a miserable one-bedroom house covered by a grass-thatched roof. During the rainy seasons, water pours in the house such that we are forced to seek some sleeping space from neighbours. Moreover, sleeping under the same roof with my first-born daughter who is 15 years old has denied me the desired privacy. I am planning to use 40,000KES to build a two-bedroom semi-permanent house. My children will sleep in one room as I share the other room with my wife. I will use a further 30,000KES to buy 10 goats each valued at 3,000KES for domestic rearing. I will later sell the goats to educate my children."