"The biggest difference in my daily life is the improvement of agricultural activities that I was able to do. This coming year, I am very hopeful that I will have a huge harvest which will in turn change my living standards by a great extent. The acreage under agriculture have significantly increased and I am so grateful for this."

"I felt so much happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. That day, I was attending a meeting within my village and I had left my phone on silent mode in order to concentrate on that meeting. I heard people outside murmuring an indication that something was different with that particular day and time. I could not wait to see the meeting come to an end so that I could check my Mpesa. When we finally concluded the meeting, I confirmed and found out that indeed I had received a sum of $550 from GiveDirectly. I came back home and shared the good news with my husband who felt very happy to receive the money as well. The amount of joy and happiness in me was just immense. I felt very happy that we were finally going to accomplish our long time dream of building a better house for our family."

"I used the entire transfer of $5500 to buy a second hand motorcycle. This was something that I had always wanted to do since it would help in making work easier for me by easing mobility. I work with a microfinance where I give loans to clients inside villages and reaching out to them was a little tough sometimes. I work with targets and very often I would fall short of targets due to poor mobility. I feel so much happy that my work has been made easy courtesy of GiveDirectly transfers"

"I used $100 to pay school fees for one of my children who is in secondary school. I used another $250 to buy a heifer and the remaining amount was used to improve our house and compound. The money came at a time that I had huge school fees arears and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to clear the fee balance. I do most of the decisions alone ever since my husband was put under arrest. It is sometimes hard to make ends meet but I have to keep pushing. I am so happy that we now have one additional dairy cow and have also cleared the school fees for my child. The next couple of months shall be stress free for me and I will use the moment to look for extra money that will help me pay school fees next term."

"I got to confirm that I had received GiveDirectly funds at around 4:50 pm that day. I was away from home that day and it is my son who gave me a call and informed me that people in our village had received the money. We were not expecting to receive the money that soon since we had just been enrolled the previous day and we had been informed that we were to receive the money in a months time. After confirming that I had indeed received the money, I called my children who were at home and they in turn informed my husband that we had been sent the money It therefore came as a surprise to me when I was told money. We were so happy as a family that we were finally going to be able to pay school fees for our children in full and also celebrate Christmas in style."

"I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. I remember very well that it was around 3:00 pm that day and I was at home with my children. I heard my phone ring and upon checking, it was a confirmation message from GiveDirectly that I had been sent a sum of $550. The amount of happiness in me was so immense. I shared the good news with my children who were at home with me and I also took some time to call my husband who was still away by that time. We later planned together as a family on how we were going to spend the money."

"Last year, the money I received helped me a lot with the tuition costs for five of my children. Additionally, I'm hoping that I can utilize the funds this year to make sure that my kids stay in school and continue their education, which is crucial for their future. I rarely make enough money working part-time jobs to support my family's requirements, especially their nourishment. As a result, I also intend to use the donations to make sure that my family and I will have food. Moreover, getting a few hens and goats will make me happy."

"I spent the majority of last year's money from the livestock transfer on purchasing livestock. I'm glad I bought five goats because there are now eight of them and more are on their way to having kids. My son and I want to launch a kiosk business together this year. We will primarily sell maize flour and other food items through the kiosk. This will give us a source of income and enable us to meet the needs of the ballooning family. Later, once the business is established, I would like to put aside enough cash to buy a bed. Since my bed broke into pieces three years ago, I've been sleeping on the bare, dusty floor."

"The cash transfers are the only source of income my daughter and I have. Considering that we are both of advanced age, our bodies can no longer endure the physical strains of casual tasks like making charcoal to make money. Also, given the prolonged drought which has hindered farming, we are forced to spend every cent we get on food so that we do not starve. Though there is little to save for other wants, I would desire to have bought at least four goats by the end of the year."