"It was still early in the morning when I heard a message notification on my phone. I was washing utensils at that time and I picked my phone and took it to my helper to help me read it as it had been my norm since I was eagerly waiting for the promised transfer and had to know the contents of every SMS that I received. I became so happy when she informed me that GiveDirectly had sent the promised money and I started singing happily as I knew that the transfer would enable me to better our lives."

"Currently, the biggest challenge that I am facing is hunger. We are facing this challenge because we had no access to fertilizer last season. We depend on coupons of which is not a guarantee that each and every season we will receive, for example, last season we did not receive any coupons, that is why now we have challenges having enough food. At the moment, we are depending on piece work meaning each and every penny is spent it on food."

"The biggest difference in my daily life that I am grateful for is the fact that I now have livestock. I settled for the dairy cows and the pair of oxen because they normally have numerous benefits as compared to other domestic animals. With the pair of oxen, they will be helping me in ploughing my 2-acre farm. For this reason, I am assured of getting good yields becasue I will be in a position to utilize my whole farm. Previously I used to till by myself which was tiresome and ended up getting low harvests. With my eight family members, we will be having ample food that will sustain us for a couple of months as compared to before. On the other hand, the dairy cows will produce plenty of liters of milk hence cutting on the costs of buying milk. We can also sell some liters to buy other basic needs such as food. Being jobless I feel this has transformed my life positively because for now, I will be able to fend for all my needs with ease, also, I can decide to sell any of these animals in times of emergencies."

"Its hard for me to find food. For me to eat in my house i need to do some peace work and this time to fins peace work is hard"

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for supporting me financially. This money has empowered me to build a new decent house. Initially, I used to sleep in a temporary small house that had its roof leaking and almost collapsing. The walls in this house were all cracked up and this made us suffer a lot especially during the rainy seasons. My children and I often felt sick due to the harsh weather conditions because the environment was not conducive at all. In addition, with my family of eight members, it could not accommodate us all and there was no privacy. I am now happy because I sleep comfortably in an iron-roofed house that is well plastered. My children are no longer falling sick like before and we are so grateful to GD for bringing such a great impact on my life. It would take ages for me to construct the house using my cash because I solely depend on casual jobs with low income ( KES 150) in a day."