"Receiving this money means having enough food for my family. I have been doing piece works in order to support my family . Sometimes my family could sleep on an empty stomach because of lack of food. With the money that I will receive I will buy fertilizer which will be applied in my maize field since nsima is our staple food and am hopefull sleeping on an empty stomach will be history."

"My mother is sick and i have been going with her to different hospitals. At first she was diagnosed with BP some years ago but now she is getting better but the problem is she has developed sores in her legs and she cant walk. She is now staying with me because she cant walk as you can see the sores are still fresh. She needs my care because she literally cant do anything on her own hence money is also a problem for instance she cant go to the toilet and she relief herself where she is and it means daily i need soap to wash for the clothes and its hard for me."

"I struggle to find food as we are here talking have run out of flour in my house i last ate yesterday and i have nothing left to eat today"

"Food has been a problem to me due to the persistent drought we have experienced in this region. I have not been able to harvest anything for the last two years. Water and sanitation have also been a big challenge. I normally drink unclean water and if I have to get clean water, I walk almost 10km to get it."

"I'm currently facing financial challenges to improve my family's livelihood. I depend on farming of maize and selling of milk but I only get around KSH 120 in a day from the milk sold. I'm forced to work in mining or stone cutting to get extra income. When I'm able to cut a lot of stones, I hawk them at construction sites. But on most days I don't sell. On days that I sell the stones I get KSH 1500. My son's school fees is also a challenge because I'm not able to pay for his fees all the time. Sometimes I subsidize farm produce as school fees when the principal is in good favour."

"Receiving this money means will mean I will buy all the things I have been wanting to buy. I will build a better house with iron sheets and matress. I have been unable to buy these things because I depend on agriculture and animal farming of which I sell at very low prices."

"The biggest hardship that I have faced in my life was when I got burnt in September 2019. I was living here and was heating cooking oil, before I knew there was a big fire in my living room. I did escape with some struggles but by then my right arm had already been burnt. This was the worst day of my life and I fail to get it off my mind."

"The biggest challenge I'm facing is not having enough income to improve my family's lives. Before putting all my savings into my current business of owning a shop and a maize mill I was working as a casual labourer by selling clothes for other people and would prioritize days that most towns are having market days to make more sales. I saved up and opened my own business. But this meant that all my savings were depleted and I have no other option of income generation. The business is only a month old and I'm hopeful that it will grow but as for now the income generated is only KSH 800 per day which is not a lot considering I have to pay fees for my 4 children and buy food for my family."

"The main challenge that I face is that sometimes I do not make money when I have not managed to find piece work for the day. Sometimes we sleep on an empty stomach because I have not managed to earn money. When I have work I manage to make MK1000 a day which I use to buy food but the food is not enough."

"We are happy that we will receive this money as you know village life is very stressful, usually it's hand to mounth, we depend on farming and small scale business, if farming doesn't work out in that particular agricultural year, then we brace ourselves for hard times, this money will help us alot and we will make sure that we use it wisely"