"We have been struggling against all the odds to see our children through their studies. Our 3 children are in various schools , our first born is in Kenya Medical Training college, one is due to join college sometimes this year and another one is in Kipcherere Secondary school. We have depleted nearly all the resources we had to pay for their school fees, we used to have 47 goats but we sold nearly all of them, remaining with just 2 to pay for their school fees. We are people of little means who depends on casual jobs to afford for our meals and other household needs.The jobs are few and erratic and can never be sustainable to make our ends meet. We are so hopeful that our children will have better lives than ours upon completing their studies and so we work hard each day, we hope against hope knowing that better times lies a head."

"I am a motorcycle taxi rider, and also run a mobile vegetable selling business. I bought the motorcycle through a loan. Currently, I need to service $700. The remaining amount. This means I need to pay $5 daily, including weekends. This has made my life very hard, and especially now as the rains begin. It will be a enormous task paying the daily remittance."

"Food insecurity is the biggest challenge in this area. Prolonged drought and unpredictable weather patterns have been contributing factors as for the past three years we did not harvest from our farms. I have been relying on casual jobs to put food on the table for my family of six. Most of days we have two meals as I cannot afford three meals with the other basic necessities."

"As I said a large percentage of my income goes into taking care of my children's school fees. I have four children two are in school, grade 6 and class 8, one finished class 8 but is yet to join any further learning institution and my last born is still so young and not in school. My goal this year is to ensure the children in school stay in school using these transfers. My husband has a job but his income is not sufficient and this is why I would want to ensure that whatever I can do with my GD transfers to ensure my children do not miss out on an education I will. I also intend to use these transfers to continue saving in my savings as this money will eventually come to me as a big amount when it's my turn to receive the cash."

"The drought has been extreme. For the last 6 years, I haven't grown on our land and harvested. We mainly depend on casual jobs which are difficult to come during dry seasons. When lucky, you get paid $2 a day. Since items are very expensive, that can hardly sustain us for two days. This has made our lives hard. Putting food on the table is quite difficult."

"The lack of a stable source of income is a challenge since I am not able to meet my basic needs and that of my daughter. Casual jobs earn me $ 8 each week, with the rising cost of living for basic commodities like food that are hard to afford. I hardly save any money for future emergencies and this has left me with huge school fees in arrears. If I had a promising income stream, I would be able to comfortably cater to the needs of my family."

"We are now people of old age and we are not able to engage in any meaningful economic activity and so it is hard to put food on the table safe for a few goats that we sometimes sell to buy foodstuffs and household needs. Indeed food insecurity has made our lives very difficult. This has been worsened by the drought that had persisted and also the ever-rising cost of living. We depend on our children sometimes for help whenever they have a surplus. At times we feel like we have become a burden to our children. We used to receive government transfers for the but it has been a while since it was last released, subsequently it has made our lives hard."

"Life is full of adversities and we have not been spared as a family. The high cost of living has affected us a big deal since we are people of little means. We are struggling with the serious challenge of food insecurity. The situation was worsened by the prolonged drought that has had devastating effects on our crops and livestock. Currently, we are buying a Kg of maize at $1 up from $ 0.6 which is high and sometimes unaffordable. So bad is the situation that we survive on just a meal per day or other times we only cook porridge for dinner just to sustain us to see the next day. It is so hurting and my children have been most affected by it."

"Talking of life challenges, I have faced a multitude of them. I am blessed with 3 children who are studying at Senetwo secondary schools, they solely depend on me to provide for them. My wife passed on sometime in 2016 and my life changed since then, I have metamorphosed through loneliness and the fear of raising my children without their motherly support. My wife was a backstop and non judgemental witness to my various shortcomings in raising the children, she was a vital source of sanity.I am sometimes moved to tears when I see our family photo hanging on the wall. I have been driven to worry and isolation.As a sole parent, I always fight my depression not to fail in the role bestowed upon me. From looking for food to school fees is a tall order but I have no choice but to struggle even when ends don't seem meet."

"My personal goal this year is to get my children through school. I do not want any of them to miss out on school because of finances. I had mentioned earlier that 8 of my children are in school. The 6 in primary school require $4.5 a month for school fees while the one in secondary requires $100 fees. My child in junior high school is the only one we are yet to start paying school fees for. This is to say our largest budget in the house is school fees. I would like to spend the money we get making sure these amounts do not accumulate which will lead us to debts."