"While growing up, I desired to pursue academic excellence. However, my dream was cut short due to poverty, my parents were too poor to afford my education expenses. When I got enrolled in GiveDirectly's program, I resolved to support my children's education with the transfer. At the beginning of this year, I revisited the same goal and did not see a need to develop a new goal. Therefore, my sole goal that I work to accomplish by the end of this year is to see my children go to school courtesy of the transfers. Both my husband's and my wages are too low to cater to their academic needs."

"Starting a business is one thing and growing it is another. As a person who has witnessed the transformation of my second-hand clothing business since the inception of the financial aid, I would stop at nothing expand it or at least keep it running. The business has become a crucial source of income, which covers the basic needs like food and education for my family over the period. I hope to continue flourishing the venture, through upcoming cash transfers. "

"By the end of the year, I wish to have started a sardine-selling business in my village. Given the drought in my region, it has been challenging to grow local vegetables, which has made sardines one of the majorly consumed accompaniments to ‘ugali’. Due to the high demand, I am confident this business will progress well, equipping me with profits that will help cover some household expenses. "

"I want to groom my compound with a nice spacious house and more livestock, so as to make it feel more like home. Seeing my family of five members share a one-room structure bothers me so much that I wish to build them a new shelter. Also, the bigger the house, the brighter the compound! Thanks to the cash transfers, I have started collecting building materials like iron sheets. Once I have assembled enough, I plan to start the construction process. After that, I plan to increase my herd of six goats and cows to ten cows and thirty goats. Owning this livestock would equip me with enough wealth that can help me generate money. "

"I hope to expand my business much greatly. I have been investing my transfers in adding to the business and all the money I get from the business I pump back into the business to help it grow further. I have not been able to save in this previous months which is something I hope to change in coming months. I want to study building and construction something I could not achieve because of the great poverty in my home. I would like to use the savings I will make from the business to pay for my college fees once I have an amount enough to start out."

"The main challenge I'm faced with at the moment is the lack of money and drought. Due to prolonged drought, it has been 2 years since we grew crops in our farm and harvested. This has led my family and I to lack food on our table. coupled with the high inflation rates purchasing foodstuff has become expensive and therefore we are forced to go hungry sometimes. In addition to this we also lack money for school fees and my son, Collins who was in form two last year had to drop out of school. I have a son, Brian, who is joining university this year and I don't have money to pay for his tuition."

"We are battling biting food insecurity. The situation has been so bad that my husband has moved to another place called Eldama Ravine to engage in casual jobs to sustain us albeit with meager wages. He felt bad that he was not able to provide for the family. We are forced to survive on just a meal a day, just for survival. We are people of little means. I engage in casual jobs which are erratic and hard to come by. The situation has been further exacerbated by the drought that has brought about devastating effects on our livestock. We travel long distances to look for water and pasture. Our livestock at the moment are so emaciated and I am afraid if it will not rain soon they will be wiped out by the effects of drought. We have lived a life of abject poverty, destitution, and full of misery."

"The persistent drought in our area has been a challenge. For the past four years, there has been a change in weather patterns that have resulted in minimum rainfall during the planting season. Our farms have been unproductive all along and also livestock lack enough feeds sometimes resulting in them dying which is a loss in our income. As a result , we are forced to purchase water two kilometers away at a cost of $2 each day yet we earn $ 4 from casual jobs. The remaining amount is hardly enough to purchase food for my family of eleven."

"Three years ago, I completely lost my eyesight and that paralyzed everything in my life. I no longer work to earn a living and just rely on my older children to provide for our basic needs. I sit around the compound all day long and this saddens me because I cannot give a helping hand to them hence making me feel like a burden."

"My main goal is to start a livestock rearing project where I had already bought a few goats to start me off. I would want to be a farmer venturing in livestock and I plan to accomplish this by spending part of my monthly transfers in purchasing goats and later buy cows knowing that they would be of help in the future in case I would be faced with any financial difficulties."