"My current house is in disrepair. If it begins to rain, it may collapse because a portion of its roofing has been blown away by the wind. As a result, with my 2023 monthly transfers, I intend to build not only a new but also a spacious house. I plan to use some of my monthly transfers to purchase building materials such as round poles and iron sheets in bits in preparation for building a new house. It will be beneficial to me. Lastly, I shall be spending some transfers on paying school fees for my six school-going children. I long to see them succeed in their academic pursuit."

"Our greatest challenge is having a small house, we have a big family of 9 and our house only have 2 rooms, all of our children have to share the same room boys and girls and we don't have a kitchen, we cook in our own room and this situation is very uncomfortable to live with and we have struggle with it for a long time. We don't have enough land to cultivate. We have to do casual labour daily to be able to provide for our family and be able to raise money to rent a small land to cultivate. Our children are not able to have school uniform and other materials, which make some of them drop out because of that uncomfortability in their education, and those who are still in school have to struggle a lot."

"The impact of corona pandemic is still felt in my household because my husband's casual work has never been stable again. Since he works as a masonry within the village where most people are yet to recover from the effect of this pandemic, it's hard to find people constructing new houses. This has forced us to be selling our goats to support our children's education as well as other basic needs like food. At the moment, we have finished our stock and this means our children lack school fees, a situation that has affected their studies. Currently, I have 2 pupils in high school but what stresses me most is where to get their fees because even the bursaries are not reliable. I, therefore, consider financial crisis as what stands out as my biggest challenge."

"I am a mother of six, three girls and three boys. I am a farmer and own a small fried fish business. My husband is a cattle keeper and farmer too. Before I started receiving these transfers, Life was so hard, I could farm and only get a little harvest, and my family would die of hunger hence poor health. My business too was not doing great due to a lack of enough stock and even capital to boost it. My children would be sent home from school due to a lack of school fees and this affected their performance. We also used to reside in a small, outdated home that was insufficient for me and my children, who would spend the night with my neighbors before returning in the morning. Thank you so much, GiveDirectly. Your donation of $80 enabled me to complete the building of my house. And today, thanks to GiveDirectly, I own a home. My children's school debt for the entire year was paid off with $330, and I am confident that this will allow them to study uninterrupted and improve their performance. $50 helped me expand my fish business and $50 helped me provide my family with wholesome food and other necessities. Thank you so much GiveDirectly."

"There has been a big change of climate. The drought has been very hard hitting on us. Our livestock have have been unhealthy due to lack of feeds, although goats do well during the drought. Additionally getting water for domestic use is difficult. We have piped water from the nearby village. During this drought season, the water level is low. We get water for 1 day in two weeks. When we fill our water tank, it costs $200. That's only enough for 2 weeks. When there's no piped water. We're forced to hire motorcycle operators to bring. It costs $3 to buy 100 litres. Very expensive. This has really affected our livelihood."

"My biggest challenge now is getting food. I must find a casual job like digging, planting and harvesting. It's hard getting a casual job daily due to the high demand caused by the drought. In a good week, I'll get three days of casual work. From this I get paid $4 daily. Most of the time I use this money for food and cannot even save to do something else. This has affected my ability to develop."

"The drought has been worst. There has been no rains for the last 6 months. Last time we planted, we didn't harvest. This has led to a lot of food insecurity. We mainly depend on our livestock. Due to the biting drought it's hard breeding them. We buy food after selling our stock. Selling our stock has led to decline in their numbers. This is affecting our source of income."

"My long-term objective for this year is to use a significant portion of my transfer to fix up my house. The house has been a valuable asset to me for more than ten years, but at the moment, its condition is deteriorating. Huge openings in the thatched roof allow rainwater to enter whenever it rains. I want to use iron sheets for its renovation because they are strong and last longer. I plan to build stonewall pillars all the way around each corner of the house to strengthen the weaker poles and strengthen the structure as a whole. All these upgrades will make my house safe to live in, eliminating my concern that it might collapse while my family members are sound asleep."

"I'm hoping and praying that the weather will eventually improve so that I can return to farming. I'll buy seedlings with the money and get the ground ready for planting. I'd like to spend more money on purchasing livestock in addition to planting. I am motivated to pursue this goal due to the ready and accessible market for buying and selling livestock, raising livestock is a surefire way to build wealth and generate a significant amount of income."

"In addition to wanting to start a livestock farm, I also want to build a new home that will have enough space for my entire family. It's very challenging for us to fit my three grandchildren and ourselves into my very small house at night. As my granddaughters and grandson are rapidly approaching their teen years, expanding the house will give them more room and enforce their privacy."