"My daughter Namasa Brenda went back to school today in senior one at Bulucheke Senior Secondary School. She had taken some time off since the birth of her child, who is now one year old. The challenge I face is looking for her school fees as it has now been increased from $30 to $50. This is hard for me to raise since I have been supporting children alone without the help of the father."

"My father Mr. Samuel Makhale is very sick and cannot walk due to his legs being paralysed andbhis old age. His sickness has led to us spending all the money we had on his hospital bills and feeding for now about 4years. Looking for the money to sustain his health is very hard and yet as their caretaker, I find it very hard to look for the money since I don't have any financial source. This constant need for money has led us to being g poor and constantly lacking. Also raising my children alone since the Separation of my husband for now 4 years. This is hard as I have to ensurevthat they go to school and at the same time feed them well at home."

"One of the challanges am currently experiencing is hunger due the flash floods that keep on destroying our crops on our snalk gardens whenever it rains heavily. The other challange am facing at the moment is lack of money to pay school fees for my children, I have 2 who are in high school, and the 7 grand children are in primary different classes and all of them needs school fees of which i cant afford to pay all their school dues. I depend on farming which has helped me to have food for my family and get some money out of my farm produce to meet other basic needs of my family. In the near future I plan to have commercial poutry farming which will produce milk and meat for selling in order to improve on my income."

"We were delighted from the start because we knew that the assistance would empower us. The field officers spoke to us politely and allowed us to ask questions, which were well answered. Everything went smoothly in my opinion, so I don't see where they need to improve."

"I never thought that one day someone will think of us and give us a helping hand. We were languishing in poverty, and these transfers from GiveDirectly rekindle our hope of living a better life. I was happy that GiveDirectly gave me the autonomy to budget these transfers based on my need. How I wish that these transfers would have come every year. It will have saved us endless problems of poverty."

"Assisting poor households in our society is what GiveDirectly did well. In addition, visiting every household village to village and training them about the program before enrollment was a nice idea. I recommend they work closely with the local administration and create good relationships with them. This will ensure no household is forgotten before they move to other villages."

"The challenges I am currently facing are,poverty which has made everything had forexample children have started school but we have not paid any single coin for them and this worries me alot because I am not even sure when I will get money to pay for their school fees. Another challenge I am facing is drought, evrything i planted didn't grow, my cabbages in the next garden there have all died up from the garden. It's true when it rains we have landslides but atleast during rainy season we have plenty and enough food for our children,no one starves."

"Since I am an old woman, I fall sick every now and then, hypertension is the biggest challenge since 2012 yet its very expensive to get the treatment. Poverty is a leading challenge too .This has made life harder, I can't afford treatment, not even a balanced diet for my health. My bad health has stopped me from doing my business that i was doing years ago to provide for myself."

"What GiveDirectly does well is uplifting the living standards of the poor through giving them unconditional cash transfers. The transformation in the village is very evident that even poor people understand their priority of needs."

"I decided to purchase some iron sheets to fix my grass-thatched house after receiving the second transfer because it was leaking. 20 pieces cost me $198. I was able to complete the renovation for a $80 labor fee. I just finished the makeover, and now I have a lovely house with no leaks. I chose to spend $80 on a sack of maize because it was a drought season and I wanted to make sure my family had access to food. After that, since I had no bed at all, I spent $100 on a bed and a mattress. I once utilized some empty cartons to help me sleep on the floor. In order to have something that can reproduce and to always remember GiveDirectly for the wonderful deed it performed for me, I also spent $70 on two goats."