"In the year 2021, my husband was paralyzed and this made him impossible to operate as a driver and he spent all his savings on medication. Currently, he is jobless at home since he is yet to fully recover. This has pushed me to assume his role as the family breadwinner and I depend majorly on my community health volunteer work. This work earns me some cash especially when we are called for training, hence I can not fully rely on it. Since I have 2 children in high school, they are usually affected because I do not have money to sustain them. Therefore, I consider the financial crisis as my biggest challenge."

"Some years back I lost my house to the rain. My house was so worn out and when the rain came it swept most of it away. I now live in my younger brothers house but with my big family the house is not sufficient. I have been buying material to allow me build a new house. Ihave bought iron sheets for a while now and will begin construction once I have a sufficient number of sheets. With earnings from my charcoal selling business I can only take care of the basics hence the house construction plan would not have been possible without Givedirectly."

"I started a grocery business when I began receiving transfers. I previously had no source of income and fully depended on my husband who at the time did casual work and hawked clothes. Starting the business brought a positive change in my life. I was able to earn my own income and support the family. My family was also able to access meals more often than they would before because of the business. I want to grow my business much more than it has grown so that I can continue to reap the benefits of having it such as education my children and feeding my family."

"I am a single mother with three children and two are school going. I live in my parents house and I depend on my mothers farming for income. I also have a grocery business which also supplements her income. I would like to get other sources of income as well as support my mothers farming. My plan is to get two cows by end year each at $20, a male and female cow. The male cow will mainly help with ploughing the farm lands. The dairy cow can be milked and the milk sold for profit. I also believe the dairy cow will also get calves which will add to our flock."

"My goal is to expand my business. I started a roadside food place around my home which makes me some earnings. I make food enjoyed by the locals which is mainly have their roots in Indian and Arabian delicacies. I started the business and even got chairs that people can sit on. I hope to expand this business and push it to a place of self sufficiency. I want to also buy some goats that I will sell so ass to take my children through school especially when I do not have enough finances."

"I hawk wheat pastries as a way of making an income. This is the only source of income I have and it is usually not so sufficient. I am currently making savings in my local savings group where I aim to get to a sufficient amount that I may buy animals. I believe that when I have goats or chicken I can sell them to solve my money problems at a time. I hope to buy more animals which will grow in number and become a good emergency fund."

"As I said I am doing things I could not have done on my own. I live in a small one room house and with my big family of six, this house is insufficient. I have spent over $300 of my transfers to achieve my goal of getting a new family for my house. I aim to build a house that will require forty sheets of Iron to build and being that the roof is the most expensive part of building, I am almost at the end of this goal with me now having 30 sheets of iron. My plan is to get to forty and then start construction. I also want to buy goats and this are to help me educate my children since this animals multiply I cans ell them and educate my children."

"My children are now home since I had not paid their school fees recently. I do not want a repeat of this in the future. I am saving in an informal savings group to buy goats and cows. My aim is to rear this animals and since they multiply when well taken care of. I hope to have a good number of animals that I can sell in such situations to have enough to settle my children's school fees balance. I hope to ensure that my children finish school and get a good chance at life through getting a good education."

"I want to buy goats, I have a number of chicken and goats which I rear but I want to buy more goats. Goats are much more resilient that even chicken. I want my goats to procreate and multiply so I can sell and get money to educate my children. I have two children who soon will be going to school and I feel the need to be prepared for when they begin school. I also want to put up a grocery shop where I will sell vegetables and get an income as now we depend fully on my husband who is a motorcycle rider."

"The biggest difference in my life is that I own and live in a nice iron sheet-roofed house like others in the village. I feel happy and more secure since I am no longer worried about my safety like before when my house was collapsing. Sleeping in a collapsing structure was unsafe for me. Since I had no alternative and my income from casual labor could not sustain me, I had to cross my fingers till morning. Currently, I am very happy because I have a better house compared to where I was initially. I also have access to food unlike before when I solely relied on charcoal–burning business which was unreliable due to the scarcity of trees."