"Lake Baringo has been extending over the last decade, and we lost our farm land. Due to this, we moved to higher ground which is less fertile. It's rocky and no access to river or lake water for irrigation. This has affected my ability to provide food for my family. The persistent drought means zero yields for us. We no longer farm. I depend on manual jobs such as planting, harvesting or weeding farms. Farming is costly due to the massive piping and huge pumps needed to pump lake water. Outsiders have come to the village and do farming giving us manual jobs. They pay $3.50 per day, and we hardly find these jobs. This has affected our ability to buy food. We hardly have two meals a day."

"I'm facing a lot of challenges currently including a lack of money to sustain my household and pay school fees for my four children. Nonetheless, the challenge that is most pressing is the flooding that recently hit our village. The flood water destroyed our farmland and crops which has affected our food supply and also money since we intended to sell the produce from the farm. We are now feeling the impact of the floods since we don't currently have hope of getting money to pay for our children's schools fees."

"Financial constraints are the greatest challenge that I am facing. I gave birth to my son six months ago, and I do not have any other support apart from the casual jobs that I do. The money I get is hardly enough to save for future use as all of it goes into food and my child's medication. Life is difficult without a stable source of income."

"Every father strives to work hard and provide the best life possible for their family. Unfortunately, this is not the case for me. I am currently struggling to put food on the table and buy my family other basic needs such as bedding and clothes. This is embarrassing and it is slowly killing my ambition as a father. I was optimistic about having a bumper harvest last season on my 0.5 acres of land. My crops were not spared by the April flash floods. I managed to harvest one bag of maize and this was the biggest loss that I had experienced."

"What stood out to me about the GiveDirectly program, especially from the enrollment process, is its strong commitment to enrolling people. They don’t waste time and are fully dedicated to the mission that brought them to my village. What I would like to see is for GiveDirectly to enroll as many people as possible in this program because it is so beneficial. It has uplifted my life, and I want others to have the same opportunity to improve their lives."

"My goal for the coming year and beyond is to purchase more livestock. I’ll soon receive my share of the money from the savings group, and I plan to use it to buy more goats. As the herd grows, I’ll have the opportunity to sell some for a good profit, which will allow me to take care of my personal needs without relying so heavily on my son. This investment provides a path to financial independence even after the five-year transfer period ends. I’m very grateful for the financial support, which is helping me improve my life and work towards a better future."

"I am an orphan. My parents when I was quite young and was forced to fend for myself at a young age. I took myself through primary school and I am now hoping to educate myself in secondary school. My goal is to raise enough cash to be able to also take myself through college. My small casual work earnings cannot facilitate this and that's why I have set aside my transfers to educate myself. Givedirectly has allowed me to live like a child with parents despite my misfortunes."

"My mother needs a house. Right now we feel the elements first hand, be it rain, wind or the sun. The house we live in has fallen on one side. I had wanted to build the house a while ago but due to the lack of finances from my charcoal business this project stalled until I started receiving my cash transfers. My brother, a taxi driver supports us on food so we can save the entirety of my transfers to ensure we get the house up and running. Givedirectly transfers will surely change the face of our home."

"I believe in the ability of education in transforming the life of people and I would want the life of my family to be transformed. I want all my 5 children, one of whom is in college and 4 in primary school to complete school. This will allow them access work that I or my husband could not access. My husband is a casual driver and makes between $2 to $5 which varies as he sometimes goes days without work, if we fully depend on his finances to get the children through school we may be forced to pull them out of school. With the transfers we can avoid this and ensure they all are able to go to school until the program closes."

"My goal the last time we spoke was for me to start school and I am now attending school. I have paid $190 so far of the required $480 to complete the carpentry course. I believe this is a very versatile course, that is once I am done with school I can immediately self employ and serve my community while making some money. I would like to complete school so my transfers can go into feeding my small family of my wife and child. I am able to dream and see a future because of the transfers being received from Givedirectly."