"Seeing my kids stay out of school for long because of fees arrears has not been easy. I cannot afford to pay their school fees anymore and I have left everything in God's hands. Recently, I went to talk to the school head to allow them to stay in school until I get some money to pay. I am also planning to make a payment arrangement when I get the transfers."

"When drought comes, we usually sell our livestock to earn us living. This year, the drought has been worse as we have lost almost all our livestock. I have got nothing left to depend on right now and I am living in fear that the drought will get more worse than we expected. Thanks for these transfers for they will sustain through the tough period."

"The biggest challenge that I'm facing now is the inability to provide for my family and seek medical attention. Since I can do very little to provide for my family, my brothers whom I can count on are casual laborers and they have families to provide for."

"I used to grow cassava for both domestic consumption and for sale. With the prolonged drought, most have dried up and the remaining ones are not enough for my family. Getting enough food for my family is the biggest challenge that I'm going through and I hope these transfers will be of great help to us."

"High blood pressure related illnesses have been my biggest challenge in life. It has rendered me vulnerable to different diseases. Moreover, I spend a lot of money and time in hospitals without any success. I feel for my only son who has been going an extra mile to ensure that I get better treatment yet he is too struggling to make ends meet in town."

"The biggest challenge in my life is prolonged illness which has made me unable to walk. I always have severe pains on my legs which has made me unable to work as I used to before. I have managed to visit a number of hospitals in the neighbouring towns without any hope of getting better. I have now resorted to prayers to see if my condition will get any better."

"I used to live in a community land before located about 15 Kilometres from my current home. However, family wrangles emanated because the land was no longer enough. I later opted to buy my own land away from the community land. The cost of the entire land was 100,000KES and I managed to pay 70,000KES in installments. I have been unable to pay the 30,000KES balance because of the financial constraints attributed by the prolonged drought in my area. Therefore, I am planning to use the GiveDirectly transfers to offset this debt so that I can live a peaceful life. I will use a further 40,000KES to start a chicken rearing business to boost my family's income generating sources. The profits from the sale of chicken and eggs will enable me pay for my children school does and at the same time attend to different family needs such as food and clothing."

"Possessing a better house has been a dream for me. I live under a leaking roof plus the house has got multiple cracks on the walls. Retiring to bed after a long day work is the desire of every human being. However, this is not the case for me as I am always full of worries whenever I leave for bed at night. I always think about the safety of my children whenever I sleep under this miserable structure. Moreover, the strong winds currently experienced during the day might wipe out my roof. I am planning to use 100,000KES from the GiveDirectly transfers to construct a two bedroom permanent house for my family of seven. I will later use 20,000KES to buy a bed and a mattress. I have never slept on a mattress since I was born. A nice bed and a mattress will assure me nice sleep after a long day burning charcoal in the forest."

"Owning livestock especially goats as my source of wealth is something that I have desired for a long time but this has not been possible due to financial challenges. Receiving this money will, therefore, mean realizing my dream since I will be able to buy goats once I start getting the transfers. This will act as my long-term investment plan to help even educate my children once they join high school. The other transfers will help me to sort our very basic needs like food as well as replacing our beddings."

"Our area has experienced a long drought that has affected people's income. This has directly affected my business because people have been taking goods on bills something that has lowered my potential to grow. With the little profits, it is so hard to fully cater to my family's basic needs. Hence, I consider financial instability as the main challenge that I am currently facing."