"Food insecurity is the biggest hardship that I have ever faced in my life. I depend most on subsistence farming which is not reliable to me due to the size of my farm and also the fact that it is not fertile again. The harvests that I get from my farm is low and it's hardly enough to support us, and in most cases it only sustain us for 2 months."

"I have a family of 13 and educating my children has not been easy due to financial constraints and most of the time, paying school fees, uniform provision, and even food is a challenge. To solve this, my intention once I receive my transfers from GiveDirectly is to expand my livestock project which at the moment I have 2 cows. I will add 3 crossbreed cows at a cost of 30000 shillings per cow and this will mean more milk to sell in order to get extra income to sustain our basic needs. This will give me confidence in educating my children something that will grant me maximum peace."

"A decent house for my family is what receiving this money means to me. Currently, l am staying in house which leaks during rain seasons. I am planning to spend $ 200 to repair my roof by purchasing new iron sheets. Furthermore, I am planning to spend $350 to purchase 2 indigenous dairy cows. I will be selling milk which will act as my reliable source of income that I will use to educate my children who are in college."

"Lack of adequate finances to seek proper medical care for my husband has been my biggest hardship in my life. My husband has a problem with his left leg which requires him to undergo an operation this has forced him to stay at home and unable to work since 2015. This has made our family undergo a tough times especially in fulfilling our basic needs like food and clothing."

"Having to feed my family has been the biggest nightmare to me. When corona virus was first reported in Kenya, the government ordered closure of all schools. This meant that all my children came home at ago and providing for them has not been easy. We depend on farming as our main source of livelihood and lately we have not been getting good harvest. Personally, I got only five sacks of maize from the one acre piece of land and this is hardly enough to feed my family of nine children."

"Subsistence farming is my main source of livelihood but it is not so sufficient due to unproductive lands. I till 5 acres of land every year but the much I get is 5 bags of maize. This food lasts us for only two months since we are are a family of 6. This means I have to purchase food for the rest of the year. My biggest desire is to achieve food security for my family. Therefore, receiving this money means I will purchase a more productive piece of land for the aforementioned purpose."

"Financial instability is my biggest hardship. This is because my husband lost his herding job when schools closed due to COVID-19. My daughter who could have been of help, lost her job as a house help too after the pandemic. My health situation does not allow me to engage in any casual labour because of the constant chest pains. My husband now relys on charcoal burning business to feed a family of 8. The much he gets is around 2000 shillings a month an amount that is not sufficient."

"Our biggest hardship we have faced in our life is lack of enough food to sustain our family. For some years now, certain disease affect our maize plants this let us to harvest little and this has been our only source of income."

"Once I receive this money, I will renovate my kitchen whose roof leaks during rainy seasons.This will cost me a total of $300. I will also buy an ayshire dairy cow at $400 which will ensure daily income from supplying milk to hotels in a nearby center. I will then use the remaining amount to buy food stuffs for my family"

"Since my four years of living here,have been struggling to have milk for my family members and I don't have any income to sustain this.Thankyou Givedirectly that you will support me to have a milking cow in future."