"For a long time, I have wished to start a business selling cereals, especially maize within this town. On hearing about Giving directly coming to this village I knew my dream would be a reality. I shall use Sh 50000 as capital for the business and the remaining sh 50000 I shall establish a house for my son who has been ill due to diabetes for a long time."

"There was a time in February ,2020 when I was hospitalized and operated on due to a growth in my small intestine. This was just before the invasion by this pandemic of the corona. I used my business savings to offset hospital bills and even had to shut down the business.This disease put my family in tough times because I am the breadwinner and I could not support them at that time."

"I work as a business lady and my husband as a teacher.Our two children are in high school where we pay a lot of school fees approximately a thousand dollars per year.These grants from Give Directly will stabilize my business hence more returns because I will have at least sixmonths to save what I would have used as school fees. I shall use $800 to pay my kids school fees for two terms. We had a established a private school within the community .This school performance was always good but due to Covid and the introduction of Competency Based Curriculum within the education system of the country the school collapsed.Most parents were unable to pay school fees hence the opted for public schools.we had borrowed a loan from Letshego financial firm and the loan is still outstanding.Although this money will not settle the whole debt at letshego, it will relieve me by a &300 amount and I am grateful."

"Despite the great challenges I had been having on my one-year venture into livestock farming, I had been enjoying the outcome as it has been one of the reliable sources of income in my household. Currently, I have two Friesian cows under a Zero-grazing Unit. Supplying them with feeds has never been that hard as fodder and other commercials have been available. Water had been a major challenge to me, especially during dry seasons when I have to buy a lot from the water vendors. This has been quite expensive and had been hoping to find a lasting solution. Receiving the first transfer offered me a great option of installing a large water reservoir at $200. This has served quite a great purpose as I collect rainwater from the roof during rainy seasons that will be useful in case a drier one comes in. I also sent $100 to my son currently in university for upkeep and used the remaining on replenishing foodstuff in our store."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is the joy of having livestock on my farm. This has brought back the hope of soon producing milk from my farm and cutting the high cost of buying from my neighborhood. This is a fulfillment of the dream I had been having. I am grateful that with time, I will be one of the milk sellers in case we will be having a surplus production in the future."

"I am a graduate and I would want to be self employed.Nowadays its very difficult for one to secure formal employment.Receiving this Money will mean that my fear of getting a good job is secured.I plan on starting up a business of buying and selling household goods and combine it with M-pesa business.My father had given me one of the shops that he lets out but I lacked capital to start up the business. This will be the best opportunity for me to fulfill it.It will cost Ksh 50,000 on M-pesa and Ksh 40,000 to buy other stock. At the end of every month I will be earning enough money to pay for my wife's school fees and also cater for other family needs such as food and clothing."

"I have always wanted to change my life and live a good life. My family solely depends on me from the ksh 300 that I earn daily. I am a tractor driver and my job is seasonal,the peak season is when people are planting and in low seasons like this I hardly get jobs to do. I want to build a good house for my family to live in,God has blessed us with a newborn baby who is a month old. Its very cold inside the house and I fear he may get pneumonia.I plan on building a good house with Ksh 30,000 then buy 10 sheep at 3000 each ,and buy two dairy cows at 25,000 each.This will give me 10 litres of milk per day which I will sell for Ksh 300 .This woul mean we will have a stable source of income and we will live a better life."

"I am 68 years old and my husband is 75 years old ,we cannot do manual jobs due to old age. We depend on our children to provide for our basic needs and sometimes its difficult asking for more money than whay they give us. Therefore ,we struggle financially."

"The biggest hardship has been lack of money. Iam a single mother and I have children in school. I have small business in the nearby town but it cannot sustain all my needs."

"Food security. The area that I live in is not well productive in terms of food. I till a small land and the produce that I get is not enough to sustain my family for a long period."