"The biggest hardship in my life is the death of my father. He died when i was very young. In my family we are 7 children and it was hard for my mother to take care for us due to lack of money and because of that i failed to finish my education. I left school in standard 5 and get married."

"The money means alot to me because it will help in many ways. I use the money to finish my house which needs floor and plaster and will use the remaining money to boost my business(Im an airtel money agent )"

"The biggest hardship i faced is the death of my mother who died in february this year after being sick for a year. To me being an orphan is very hard because when she was alive i was cultivating together in her dimba but now since she is gone some of her relatives took over the dimba and they dont allow me to cultivate in the dimba anymore. Its hard because before her death i was able to sell vegetables, tomatoes and fresh maize from the dimba and use the money to buy food and now its different."

"This money will mean alot to my household. I rely much on subsistence farming. Through surplus haverst in 2007, i managed to send my nephew to south Africa in search for Jobs. I rely much on him to send me some money. This transfer will therefore be much helpful as it will add on what i manage to survive on. I will firstly buy cement to put floor in my house and to plaster it. This will reinforce the walls and whole house to be strong to winds and rains. Currently i am also sleeping on mat, this makes some body pains especially during the times i work on the farm. So buying matress will help to ease the body pains by bringing in some comfort."

"The biggest hardship has been a lack of money. The little money I get from casual jobs ends up in paying school fees. My small business of vegetable vending can only sustain my household necessity and even sometimes eat into my stock."

"I was so happy to receive these funds from GD. At this moment i saw all my dreams of a better life and house coming to reality"

"I was so happy when i got the alert that i have finally received the funds from Givedirectly. This is something i was anticipating for a long time"

"Receiving this money means access to education for my children. I have a family of nine children. One is in secondary school, five are in primary school and three are still young. Educating these children has been very difficult for me. This is because, I depend on charcoal burning business to get money for my my family. This business earns me less than 2000 KES a week which makes it difficult to save and educate my children. This has made my children to be on and off school because of fee arrears. My ambition is to have a source of income that will help me settle my bills and educate my children. I intend to use the cash transfer to buy ten goats that will cost me 40,000 KES which I will sell to educate my children when they multiply."

"I have desired to invest in livestock because it is the only way I can save my money to earn me a profit when I sell them after they multiply. I, therefore, intend to start with 10 goats that will cost me KES 30000 of my first transfer. The remaining amount of my first transfer will cater for food expenses and other household needs. With the second transfer, I intend to pay school fees for my 2 children who are in secondary school. This will give them the opportunity to settle in school and hence, a better performance."

"Food insecurity has been the biggest hardship that I have faced in my life. Over the years, I have been depending on subsistence farming. However, due to the persistent drought in our village, this has changed. The land has become useless due to unreliable rainfall. This has forced me to engage in charcoal burning business which is not reliable because there are no trees and it is prohibited by the Kenyan government. However, since it is the only means for survival, I have no choice. I earn an average income of 2000 KES a week. This money is not enough to buy food and pay school fees for my children. Upon receiving this money, I will be able to buy food and ten goats as an investment for my children's education."