""Have you ever imagined watching your children crying because of hunger?" This is the reality of my life at the moment. Considering my charcoal work which is low paying and time-consuming, it usually takes me a month to make $32. This money is hardly enough to sustain all our needs and consequently, my children have been on the bad end. They have always been sent home due to a lack of fees. As a father, I have felt the pain of desperately watching them miss classes. In addition, I am forced to do this work despite having some metal plates in my hand. The pain after doing this work makes me weak and I usually feel depressed. What a life! I, therefore, consider the lack of a reliable source of income as my main challenge."

"Lack of house for the family is the challenge I am facing. This has forced me to seek shelter during night time from neighbors and live the children and the wife use the house I have."

"I was born without any complications. However, last year I developed some problems with my legs. They periodically become very painfully such that I cannot walk. I have undergone through medication but the problem is still disturbing me. I cannot walk for a long distance now. This is the challenge I am currently facing."

"I have been suffering from ulcers for three years now. This has affected me such that I cannot engage myself in any work. This has caused my children to have accumulated school fee balances. I feel bad sometimes seeing my children out of school due to lack of school fees."

"Lack of employment has been a challenge for me. I do charcoal burning as my job which is tedious and it is illegal. The forest department in the country birds charcoal burning. I take the risk because I have no any other job and have a family to take care of."

"I was just unwinding under a tree at around 3 PM when my grandson informed me that I had received my first cash transfer. At that precise moment, my heart was filled with joy since I knew that I would be able to build my dream house. Without wasting time, I had to inform my spouse right away and started planning on the same."

"I started working on a project to build a rental house in my village a few months ago. However, it came to a point where I could no longer afford to purchase the necessary materials, so it had to stop. I used to worry a lot about this because I had no idea how I would get the money to complete my goal. Therefore, I spent the entire first transfer on buying the materials such as sand soil, hardcore, bags of cement, and metal doors. I am hopeful that once it is finished, I won't have to struggle to provide for my family's necessities, notably the issue of increasing school fees for my three school-age children. For the time being, my money from odd jobs is never sufficient to meet all of our demands. The difficulty is now over because I'll be collecting rent every month, paying all the expenses, and starting other initiatives with the money. I'm grateful to GiveDirectly for the money because it has enabled me to start my own business and has made my family happier and more peaceful."

"Courtesy of previous cash transfers, I obtained two goats that I have managed to keep to date. In the coming few years, I wish to have grown this herd so that it will be easy for me to sell some to support the needs of my family. Currently, I rely on casual tasks such as making charcoal and working on people’s farms for a living. The money I get from these activities barely puts daily bread on the table. I am confident that if I own livestock, hunger will no longer be an issue as I could sell the animals to buy food."

"When I was building my house, I did not have enough funds to acquire iron sheets to cover the entire space. So, I borrowed some pieces from an old structure, which had been around for years. Following the ongoing rains, I noticed that the roof lets in rainwater. With the help of the cash transfers, I intend to replace the iron sheets in the coming years. Other than that, I also want to rear goats as a source of wealth that I could sell anytime to obtain money for my household's needs."

"My goal is to actively contribute to the needs of my family and support my mother. However, my epileptic condition hinders me from doing any job to raise an income. I believe that rearing livestock is the surest way I can generate money and help cover some household needs like paying school fees for my three siblings and buying my medication. In the coming years, I wish to have bought goats that will help establish substantial wealth for meeting these needs even after the transfers cease."