"My husband died four years ago and left me with the burden of taking care of the family alone. I do casual jobs that Gives me $20 per month. Sometimes I go the whole month without any job. This money caters to food only and it is not even enough. My three children have dropped out of school due to a lack of school fees. Lack of a job is the current problem I am facing in life."

"I have a problem finding a reliable source of income in this area. For this reason I decided to join my father in tapping palm wine since five years ago. We do not have palm trees at home, so we basically do this in a particular homestead in the next village where we have some business arrangements with the palm trees owner. This works in such a way that we sell the product and split the proceeds equally. The biggest problem is that I can only make between $1 to $3 a day, which is way too little for my family's needs. I have a wife and a one year old child."

"I received my first transfer from GiveDirectly while I was bedridden in hospital. I had fell ill and had to be admitted in hospital. We had already used a lot of money to seek medical attention and when we received the transfer, It brought a lot of relief for us. My daughter was in possession of my phone and she is the one who informed me that we had received the money from GiveDirectly. I was later released from hospital where I went home feeling very happy and shared the good news with my husband. There was so much relief on my end that I even felt better from my ailment."

"The biggest difference in my life since I started receiving this transfer is in the investments that I was able to make with it. Having cleared school fees for my child who is in college and having bought some furniture for the household makes me so much happy and relieved. All along I have entirely depended on support from my husband who works as a driver. This has often strained him and fir once I feel GiveDirectly gave him a helping hand. The farming which I normally depend on to earn some income has lately been not so productive making us depend entirely on my husband for almost everything. The improvements that we made in our home have si brought a lot of comfort and joy within the family."

"I have been sick with ulcers for almost the last eight years. This is mainly because of hunger that we rarely eat one meal a day here. Also recently got sick with malaria and I was struggling a lot to get well as I did not have enough money to get medication."

"It has been 5 years now since my son's mental stability got challenged and he is now surviving on drugs. This condition has pissed me off because I no longer enjoy the benefits he used to bring home when he was well and stable at work. Due to this problem, his wife decided to separate, leaving me with the burden of taking care of him, a situation that has consumed a lot of my time. In addition, my husband has been concentrating on him and this has compelled me to be the only breadwinner for the family of 4 through casual jobs like charcoal burning. Since my financial status is at stake, my daughter has yet to join college because I do not have money to support her. What a life!"

"My husband lives with the disability of being deaf and dumb, a condition that has affected his ability to secure a decent job. This has forced him to engage in casual jobs which have very little earnings. For this reason, his elder brother gave him a portion of land where we have been living for 1 year now. Although my brother-in-law is peaceful, we have recently been receiving discouraging words from his sons that we should secure our plot. Since we do not have money to purchase our land, we have been living in fear that we might be driven away anytime, a situation that has robbed way my joy. What a life! I, therefore, consider this as the biggest challenge that I am currently facing."

"My husband used to work in a very potential company as an electrician but in the year 2018, he was retrenched from work. This compelled him to stay idle at home until the year 2021 when he was able to secure the same job but in a different firm. His recent income has not been reliable since they usually postpone payments and this has forced me to engage in the small business of selling fast food at the nearby school, to supplement his income. Although I put more effort into ensuring I support my children in school, sometimes I fail in providing some of our very basic needs like food when my husband is yet to get his salary. This situation has robbed away my joy as a mother because it is not believable to see my children crying due to hunger. Therefore, I consider financial instability as my biggest challenge."

"I have a family of three members. My husband is old he can no longer work and I am just a housewife. We rely on my daughter who does casual work which lacks the guarantee of getting a job every day. She earns approximately $30 per month. This money caters for food only which sometimes we go without food. Currently I last took food two days ago. I feel dizziness and lack the energy to go and take water from the water tap. Lack of food is the challenge I am currently facing."

"My husband is a casual worker and I am just a housewife. He earns around $20 a month though not every month. I have a family size of four members and we use 2 bags of maize flour per day. My husband's income is low such that we adjusted the daily meal per day. We take one meal per day. Sometimes the family goes without food. A good example is last week, I got only two packets of maize flour the whole week. So I used the flour to prepare porridge for the children and my husband and I spent three good days without food. We survived with water only. Lack of food is the challenge I am facing in life."