"My goal has been to build a new house. However, I live in a difficult situation. I live in a small house together with my six children. Unfortunately, I do not have a bed. I am optimistic that once I build a house, my children will get a better place to spend in, and this will restore my dignity among my community members. As a single mother, I have lived with pain to see my children living in horrible conditions. Apart from the house, I have a lot of needs to respond to. These include raising school fees for the children and feeding them. Once I build a house, I shall start raising livestock such as goats and chickens because they are precious assets in our community."

"I am caught up in poverty.I am taking care of sick and vulnerable people.I am also lame.I have to do casual labour to help out with the family and to cater for all needs."

"I am a casual worker; commonly known as "Jua-kali" here while sometimes taking care of animals for people. I hope that this year, God willing, I will become a businessman selling animals in the main market. I want to sacrifice every month so I can save for this business. I want to buy animals that I will use in this trade. I want to make sure by the time I am ending my time with GD I have something which I can rely on. I want to first start by buying chicken, and once I get to a certain level, I will incorporate the purchase of goats. I am hopeful that if I am in good health and have a life, I can achieve the goal of venturing into buying goats by August this year."

"Through the cash transfers, people have been able to achieve financial independence through starting businesses and farming. Therefore what GiveDirectly does well is giving us cash and living us to make choices on spending."

"At present the only challenges we are facing are lack of money to pay for our son's education and low food stock levels. George Mwitha, our son is in form 2 at Njelenje secondary school and it has not been easy for us to raise his school fees of $22 per term. With our monthly income of about $25, it brings us constant worry as to how we are to pay for his education. Additionally, our food stock levels are diminishing at a rapid rate for the 6 of us. From the 8 bags of maize which we got in April this year from our farm, we are only left with 2 bags for food and this brings us a reason to worry as to where and how we are to get food when this is done."

"I am a father of two children and I own a local butchery that earns me approximately $100 per month. With this income I have never been able to build a bigger and better house for my family because its not even enough for education and basic needs. With the second transfer, I was able to construct a single room of iron sheets worth $200 that I moved in with my wife and left the one that we were sharing with the children for them. We all now enjoy our space and privacy. I spend the balance to expand my business and I'm happy that it is doing better and earning me a higher income."

"A few years ago, I started a poultry farming business with few chicken which had multiplied into 300 by the time I was receiving my second transfer. Due to financial constrains, I was not able to fence the compound something that had seen me struggle with predators which will sneak into the compound and eat the chicken. With the second transfer, I was able to spend $250 to fence the compound and the predators have now no escape root to the compound. I also spend $30 to buy more chicken and the balance to buy food and clothes for my children."

"I am a single mother of four children and for the longest time, I have been have been living with them in a muddy grass thatched single room. Neither of us has ever enjoyed our privacy and having a bigger house is something that we desired. With an average income of $60 per month, I could only afford to pay their school fees in local government schools and cater for basic needs. I spend $330 to do roofing for a temporary one bedroom that I build for myself and a single room that I build for my son, $10 to pay fees arrears and the balance to buy food for my family. We now have better houses and we enjoy our spaces and privacy equally."

"Recently, I was walking around the village and I saw a lot of developments. People were able to build better houses, buy livestock, improve on their farming methods etc. The change is very visible and personally, I will say that what GiveDirectly does well is transforming societies. I did not see an area that you need to improve on and I will urge you to continue doing a great job that you usually do."

"Recently I bought an acre piece of land on credit that I am looking forward to repay by mid next year. Accomplishing this means that I will be able to do farming on the same piece of land and thus get food and cows feed at the same time."