"I felt so happy the moment I received the money from GiveDirectly. I woke up early in the morning that day to the good news that I had just received a sum of KES 55000. I couldnt believe in my eyes. I was expecting to receive this money but the thought of receiving KES 55000 from someone who did not expect me to pay them back made me so happy. I knew that I would be able to accomplish a lot with the money and make a difference in my life now and in the days to come."

"Receiving this money means that I will spend to buy oxen and ox-plough for ploughing. Iam depending on culivation as a source of earning for Educating my children but I do not have oxen to enhance ploughing. I harvest less due to small crop cultivation where by it can not help in raising money for paying my children school fees. Givedirectly money will enable my household own oxen and ox-plough to faciltate large crop cultivation thus high produce. I will be selling some of the produce to raise money for paying my children school fees."

"The biggest hardship I face is food shortage and this has resulted in hunger since my household members mostly eat ones a day. My family members fall some times sick has a result of poor feeding."

"I grew up with a lot of hardship.My parents separated when I was 10 years old.My mother left us all(9 children) with my dad.As the first born daughter I was left with the role of doing the house chores like cooking and washing.Balancing this with school was very stressful for me.Stressful to the extent that I developed ulcers at the age of 14 when I was sitting for my final exams of Primary education.When I joined secondary school I became frustrated and had no mother figure to support and guide me.I became pregnant in my second year of secondary school which made me drop out of school at the age of 17.I got married and my education dreams ended there.I am now a mother of 1 still struggling to make ends meet. "

"A quality education to my children has been my greatest ambition and I have always tried my best to ensure that they are in school despite the financial challenges I am experiencing. Since I was married in a polygamous household and my husband is suffering from a hernia, I decided to assume his role and do all means to keep my children schooling. I am actively engaged in charcoal burning as my reliable source to earn income that can sustain my children in school. Receiving this money means the realization of this dream because I am planning to spend 300 dollars to clear all the fees arrears of my daughter who is now doing her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. My other plan is to spend 210 dollars on buying 7 goats of $30 each and this will act as my long term investment to aid in paying the college expenses once she advances her studies. The remaining transfer will help me to pay the fees for my 3 sons, one in form 3 and two in class 7. This will mean a better education to them and good jobs once they are through with their studies hence, a better life."

"The biggest hardship I have faced is food shortage. My agricultural land is located next to the swamp and whenever it rains too much they flood hence destroying my crops."

"Two of my children will be in secondary schools obtaining their desired education. Due to this, I believe that I will have paid most of their school fees in the next six months. This will always make me happy because they will continue with their studies without being interrupted. I want to make sure that I will have saved enough money through continuous contributions to my merry go round group by then."

"The biggest hardship I have faced is securing employment.After High school,I enrolled for a driving course with the expectation that once I complete I will get a job which will enable me be independent.Since completion,I have been applying for jobs in vain and have even tried out the armed forces recruitment which I have failed to secure every year.The biggest challenge here is that now my family has to depend on our parents for some basics like milk for our young son because I have not been able to buy a cow.It is quite demeaning for a man of my age to depend on my parents and I have always wished that one day I will be in a position to support them on my own."

"The biggest hardship faced currently is feeding since I don't have enough cultivation land for food grops.Whenever the little grown is consumed, it's a budern on my head to find food for the children. "

"I expect to have completed building my house in the next six months. Farming will still be my main important activity as I expect to have harvested the current crop and established more. I intend to expand the farming size and gain more in the next months. most importantly, I want to make it sustainable. I will be using the income from these projects to cater for our family needs."