"What I am striving to accomplish in the next year, is to find a location where I can set up my business in town, and with the new larger space, I can now focus on making clothes for both men and women. Working from home, I'm limited by space and location( since not all clients will find it convenient to come to my house for fittings etc.), hence a shop will work nicely, plus give me walk in business as well."

"It's hard to find fault, of any kind, with what GiveDirectly as an organisation do. To put into perspective their impact, imagine that prior to me building the aforementioned house, I had kids sleeping in the kitchen! All I can say is I would love to see the programmes continue longer, with GiveDirectly continuing to offer the support they have been giving to recipients so they can accomplish some more life changing goals and get to where they are financially on their feet, moving forward. Eg. More transfers would mean I could start a business that my kids can benefit from while they study."

"As a person suffering with blood pressure problems and being in and out of employment, the work GiveDirectly does was a blessing. It truly transformed my life and all I could think of in terms of improvement would be for them to extend their programmes longer(more transfers) and potentially increase the recipients, since there is still so much more people would wish to do. GiveDirectly steps in and closes that gap between them and their goals."

"The transfers from GiveDirectly bought me a bed and a mattress, which I had long wanted, but had been unable to purchase. The remainder of the funds were channeled towards buying 4 goats, of whom 3 are female and 1 is male. I am hoping that they will breed and become a secondary, if not primary source of income for me and my family. With the balance left over from my two initial big purchases, I paid school fees for my eldest of 2 kids, which is KES. 700 per term, at Kilifi Miriangu Primary School. My youngest is 11 months and was a beneficiary of new clothes from the money sent by GiveDirectly. As for me and my husband, we were thankful that my eldest, who lives in Kilifi with the grand mother, could study for a while longer without the doom of arrears looming over her head and that my husband, who earns KES. 2,000 per week carrying goods in Mombasa, could rest easy a bit knowing the funds had chattered for some of our recurring bills, for that period. We will eternally be grateful to GiveDirectly for all they have done for us as a family."

"Financial constraints is the greatest challenge currently. We are growing older and unable to work to earn a living. In order to get food, we depend on our children to buy for us and some times we are forced to sleep hungry. This makes me feel like a burden to them because they have children who depend on them. I hope one day I get money to buy livestock that I can sell to cater to the basic needs of my family without relying on other people."

"My immediate goal in the coming year or so is to graduate from tailoring school and set up my own tailoring business. This would be a crucial start for me in the journey towards financial independence and stability, as a house hold. In the long term, I would like to see my children complete school and have good jobs, which will in turn translate to better lives for them, than me and their father have had."

"I was thrilled to hear that I had been chosen as one of the beneficiaries since it meant that my dream of building a new home would finally come true. My spouse and I are both elderly, and at the time, charcoal burning was our primary source of income. We can no longer dig the logs for burning charcoal because of our advanced age, thus we were unable to get anything from it. We are grateful that the monthly payments, which are now our only source of income, have arrived. Right now, I want to make our living situation better. We live in a small, grass-thatched house with deteriorated walls, so it is essentially the same as sleeping outside. We have so far bought ten iron sheets, and we still need to buy another 18 so that we may begin building a new house. By the end of the year, we hope to accomplish this"

"Given my advanced age, my son is my sole source of financial support. Since my son is the family's sole provider and earns a meager income, he occasionally finds it difficult to meet everyone's needs. This year, I want to purchase lots of goats. These goats will procreate, bringing me more money. As the number grows, I may decide to sell some and use the proceeds to provide for the needs of the family. This will help take some of the pressure off my son, who works extremely hard to put food on the table for the family every day."

"GiveDirectly did an excellent job, which we appreciate and are still pleased with after spending the funds. I appreciate the uncompromised spending that was not influenced by GiveDirectly. We were all very excited when we got the chance to enroll because we had been hearing about the testimonies from afar. Everyone appreciated and comprehended the entire procedure, and nothing should be changed even in other villages."