"Three of my first born children have dropped out of school all because I did not have the financial capability to take them through secondary education. This pains me everyday. I am a casual labourer in a tea farm whereas my wife is unemployed. My efforts alone cannot fend for the umpteen mouths in the family as well as give them education. Seven of my other children are in primary school at the moment and my biggest worry is that they may not transition to secondary school due to my dire financial situation. This is the biggest hardship I've faced in my life."

"In the next six months, I expect my life to change in that most of my goals will have been accomplished. I am planning to increase household items such as seats. I had very few seats and I felt adding more would be of help. I will have also built an animal shed for my goats. Since they are expanding very fast I need to start thinking ahead being that currently, they are sleeping in one of the isolated rooms which is not up to standards and not safe either."

"I expect to have built a kiosk in the next six months hence will be earning more income hence providing for my family will be cheaper and easier. I will be in a better position to save little money that will use in the future to improve my family living standards by buying a piece of land that will help us do farming for both household consumption and sales."

"The main economic activity here is raising livestock, this is what most depends on given that the climatical condition in our region favors such practice. My desire has always been to diversify the means of income generation. Yes, livestock does well here but there have to be other sources that can take care of immediate needs like food, clothing, health care, and education. Once I receive my transfers, I will invest in a kiosk business. This will able me to generate enough income, and that will be a big boost to my household given that we had been depending on husband's income alone. "

"The only source of income in our family is labour that my husband offers in construction sites in exchange for a daily wage. The little pay combined with the job's inconsistency however, does not sufficiently cater for our family's basic needs of food and education. School fees for my children is my biggest headache as seven out of my eight children are enrolled in both primary and secondary school. Countless times have they been sent away from school to collect their fee balances which upto date I have not managed to clear. "

"My expectation in the near future is to complete building my kitchen. Using the tattered tents as it is now makes me so uncomfortable since I am always forced to cook early before it becomes dark or it starts raining. Once this is done, I plan to buy a dairy cow. Having a dairy cow will help me reduce the expenses that I currently have. I believe if I keep it well I will get some good amount of proceeds from the sale of milk which will improve my financial strength and hence the ability to take care of my family. I plan to use this money to start other income-generating activities. Ultimately, this to improve our general lifestyle."

"I expect my life to change in the next six months because I am planning to save and buy a water tank. I have been struggling for a long time now with carrying heavy jerrycans and walking long distances in search of water. I had started developing back pains as a result of this. I can't afford to pay for my medication when these conditions worsen that is why I want to buy this water tank as soon as possible. I can't wait to have water at the doorstep after suffering for all these years"

"It was around 2 am, I was half awake because I had gone to the washroom minutes before a notification messages came through my phone. It sounded odd because I didn't expect a message from anyone at that odd hour. When I checked what the message was all about, I realized it was an Mpesa message from GiveDirectly. They had sent me the first transfer. I remember I couldn't sleep after that because I was so excited. I kept tossing and tossing as I waited anxiously waited to go withdraw the money the next day."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now have goats. I have been interested in rearing livestock for a long period of time but due to my low capital, I could not afford it. I decided to buy goats because they reproduce fast and require minimum attention as compared to other domestic animals. Apart from that, they can stay in any kind of climate. I believe with time they are going to multiply and I am planning to sell the offsprings and exchange some of them for a dairy cow. The dairy cow will provide us some milk for my family consumption and also I will be selling part of the milk to local shops. This will be my additional income. I believe and hope this will uplift my living standards and I will be able to cater for my family basic needs."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now own a shop from which I earn a good income. The transfer enabled me to buy adequate stock to start this small business in my village, and I am grateful to GiveDirectly because I could not have achieved this at my own cost. This is the only source that generates income for my family's sustenance because through it, I am able to meet my daily basic needs and other household expenses unlike before."