"With the erratic rains this year I only harvested 2 bags of maize for food from my 1.5 acre farm land. This lasted until August this year, thus for me and my grand daughter, Eliza Wyson who is now at school, Mafiso primary. Since then we have been facing a hunger issue such that we've resorted to just having lunch and supper cancelling out breakfast. Additionally, I am not fulfilled with the condition of my house, I wish it was cemented on the floor and had plastered walls. I am unable to achieve this because with my monthly income of less than 1$ it is impossible to undertake such projects. These are the hurdles that make my life harder as of present day."

"I am an old lady so I am frequently hit with different illnesses. These plus my weakened strength affect my productivity and provision for my family. Nowadays, I don't harvest as much from my maize field. This year I only got a 10 litres pail of maize for food and this was over within 2 days back in April. Since then I have relied on remittance for survival."

"As a household our desires are wide and many but due to constraints we fail to attain these wishes. We wish our house was fully plastered outside and painted with lime but due to lack of money and inaccess to sources of income we are unable to do this. Additionally, we wish we had a vehicle as means of transportation but because of the same financial constraints we are unable to achieve this. These are our only challenges currently as a family."

"I was passionate about studying to become a plant operator once I had finished my school education.  The problem I have, though, is that I don't have the money to pay the fees because it will cost me roughly $1200 to finish. I currently work as a motorcycle rider for boda boda and earn around $3 each day.  This money is insufficient to pay for my son's nanny and buy food because Felicity, my wife, is still enrolled in school."

"Thank God we have food in my household but we are still unsatisfied because of the our living conditions. I have a huge family of 8 children and sleeping space has always been a challenge considering 3 are girls and 5 are boys. We decided to elect this boysquarter you see on the side of the house so that the boys should move in and create space. This was last year but up to now we are unable to finish this project due to lack of money to buy the remaining needed materials thus, cement for floor, plaster and pointing as well as door and window frames. Additionally, we need new chairs for our house, as you can see the ones inside are torn and worn out that don't offer us the comfort we need."

"Currently I only have two challenges, thus, hunger and lack of furniture in my house. This year in April I only had 2 bags, weighing 50kgs each, of maize from my 2 acres farm instead of 12 or 13 which I usually get when I apply fertilizer. Yes, I didn't apply fertilizer in my field last season for it was expensive and I couldn't afford it. Those who could afford were for 15$ for bag from vendors. Me and my family ate these 2 bags until July and since then we have had to rely on charcoal selling business for survival. It has been a struggle ever since because we only get 4$ from 2 bags of charcoal which we sell a month and as you can tell this is not sufficient to carter for food and other basic household needs such as buying furniture, beds and even mattresses. Currently, we sleep on a mat the one you saw inside but we wish we slept on a bed with a mattress on it but we are unable to attain that luxury due to financial constraints that we are facing as a household."

"" while sitting in front of my house one morning, I got a beep on my phone. When I checked it, I saw the amount of 35,625 LD from GiveDirectly. I was so happy because II really wanted to pay my school fees. Though, I planned to built house, but the first thought I had was school fees. I live in a small kitchen with my grandmother, the both of us decided to build a new house with our transfer. The moment I got the transfer, I brought it to her and we both made decision on how to spend it"."

"I wish to devote much of my time to farming, whereby I would be planting at the right season to get a pamper harvest. This would help me to pay the school fees for my son and get enough food for the family."

"This will be my additional source of income. I am planning on saving some money from the sales of my farm produce and milk from my dairy cow. I wish to venture into the business of selling cereals. This will be my additional source of income to the family."

""This first transfer came as a coincidence. On the very day I got the money from GiveDirectly, my children were sent packing out of school. I used some of the money to pay my children's school fees, buy their uniform and lesson books. I used the remaining money to pay back money I credited"."