"From my previous harvest I only got 2 bags of maize for food, this was in May this year. This only lasted until August and since then I have been facing a hunger crisis in my family up to date. Most days me and my children sleep on emptying stomachs due to lack of food."

"Currently the only hurdle I am facing in my household is lack of food. These days we rely on buying food, thus, $2.7 a bucket of maize. This usually lasts 5 days then we are back to looking for pieceworks and get paid to buy food. For me it's a struggle having to live like this."

"Poor housing condition is my only hurdle at present. As you can see my house is grass thatched and has many porous spaces up there. I try to cover up the porous spaces on the roof with plastic sheets but they usually get torn up with the heavy and stormy rains so I have to buy another sheet, currently at $6, when this happens. This is demanding and costly for me because I don't have the financial muscle to be doing this year in year out."

"Currently I have two challenges only, thus, lack of food and proper housing. I currently have only a single bag of maize for food left which I feel will see me through until next year. When this bag is depleted I have no idea where or how I am to sustain myself in terms of food. Additionally, when it comes to housing, this structure doesn't satisfy me, even though I live alone in it. I wish I lived in a bigger house than this, a 3 roomed house would be nice. Due to financial constraints I am unable to attain this."

"My biggest challenge is money. This is because farming is my giving us anything. We tried sorghum farming but the market is not good and we come back with little money. This money isn't enough to buy us food and also pay our children's school fees. My husband started a hardware business which is pretty much seasonal and is vibrant during harvests time. Right now customers are prioritizing food over repairing their bicycles."

"The biggest challenge in my household is food. I have 9 children and grandchildren living with me and together with my husband we are 11 people. My husband is polygamous and has 3 other children and the wife. For him to provide for all of us is a struggle considering how the times are. We rely on farming but the cyclones (Ana and Gombe) took away our crop and we didn't harvest at all. This has us going at Demeta crop company for some ground labour work to find money and buy food. We are on a hand to mouth basis."

"The money was spent on zinc and other building materials for the purpose of building my house which I have started doing already. I want to build a house because I am living within my grandmother house, I am very grateful to GiveDirectly for this change in my life."

"I'm not good at burning charcoal because it's such a tedious task. Since my husband passed away twenty years ago, this has been my main source of income. I'm getting older, and the energy I still have won't allow me to keep doing this job. There isn't anything left over after I spend what little money I make selling charcoal to cover my daily food expenses. I frequently receive financial support from my son, a watchman, whenever I don't have enough money to buy food. I intend to start a small kiok business where I will sell the silver cyprinids, which are in high demand, in order to stop this over-dependence on my son. I'll be able to make a living off of this and take care of myself."

"I resided in a relative house with my family due to lack of finance. I really been praying and hoping to build my own house, now that I have started receiving cash transfer from Givedirectly, I am going to build my own house, so I know that my life has changed completely and I am so happy because living in relative house is not easy."