"After my house collapsed last year, I was forced to move into my son's house, which already accommodated his wife and child. I feel like am depriving them of privacy and my priority right now is to get a decent one-room house for myself. I know for sure that my hustle of burning and selling charcoal will not be sufficient to support this operation. Since it will be made of mud walls and an iron sheet roof, I approximate the construction cost at $300. To get there, I purpose to save at least $10 from each future cash transfer."

"I would love to expand my herd of goats to four by year's end. However, looking at the financial obligations on my shoulders, am uncertain about accomplishing my goal by then. Having no one to rely on for provision, I sometimes take on charcoal burning tasks to raise money. However, I cannot make much because the physical demands overwhelm me. This is why, I want to rear livestock as I could easily sell them to get money for food."

"With the cash aid that I receive from GiveDirectly, I am proud to have started goat farming. As of now, I own 3 goats. This is a reliable source of income that will assist me in supporting my grandchildren’s education, as well as sell them when they multiply to cater to any financial emergencies. The goal that I hope to accomplish in the coming year is to boost my livestock farming by saving some money to buy more goats."

"As of last December, I started to save my money because I plan on opening up and running a business. I plan on selling groceries from the comfort of my home and also different types of fish, which are common delicacies back in the village. This money will enable me to cater to the day-to-day needs of my family. My son also happens to be in school, so I intend on helping my husband with some of the bills in the house by settling his tuition fees because he barely makes enough money doing casual work. Nutrition is also definitely on my priority list, especially considering that the drought has had quite a negative impact on us."

"I have been living in a single room with my husband and our three children. The same single room servers as the kitchen, living room and bedroom and that's not an environment one would wish to live in. Since I am a housewife and my husband a local businessman, we were not in a position to build a better house because the small income that he got would go to school fees and other basic needs. With our first transfer, we started building a two bedroom house and I spend $400 to finalize it. I spend the balance to buy food for my family that was able to take us for some few months. We are grateful to GiveDirectly for the financial support that enables us to build a better house that we live in now."

"My goal this year is to look for a job so that I can help my husband with family responsibilities because it has not been easy for him toiling all alone to provide for us all. Getting a job means that we will also be able to put all our income together and do some meaningful projects as a family."

"What GiveDirectly does well is giving people hope in live. Living in poverty is not easy and many people despair. With the unconditional cash transfers, people were able to invest things that will forever change their lives and give them dignity."

"Since I am earning a better income compered to when I was employed, my goal this year and beyond is to invest in dairy farming and build a better house for my family. Accomplishing this means increase in income and better living standard for my family."

"My main focus and goal this year is the expand my farming. This is because, I want to save towards my children school fees so that they will not have hard time once they join tertiary institutions."

"Personally I often have a routine on how I use transfers and the spending of the funds are mostly aligned with what is necessary for my family at the moment. At the moment my biggest priority is to ensure that I settle debts in tuition fees for my son who just recently resumed school. Afterwards I also plan on using a part of the transfers to cater for nourishment for my family especially considering that drought is upon us. Lastly I will spend any money left on purchasing a couple of hens since so far the funds have so far helped me acquire four hens."