"The training was perfectly done and most of the people in our village invested the money wisely. The money was unconditional most people invest in different income-generating businesses. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well."

"This year we didn't harvest anything from our farm and this has brought about lack of food in our household which is a challenge we're currently facing. We only manage to have a single full meal a day, thus, supper. We use the money we are paid from our casual labour in Demeta, a company that deals in farm produce which is stationed in this area, to buy food, thus a bucket of maize at 2.5$. This happens once or twice a week for it is next to impossible to secure a piece work there nowadays as the demand is high by the locals."

"Currently there's only one thing affecting me and it's none other than hunger. My household needs 30 bags of maize for food yearly for our survival. As I am talking to you, I don't have a single grain of maize because I didn't harvest anything this year. We've resorted to boiling and eating mangoes lately. However, on good days my husband Papias brings home some money from his houses construction business, mostly it's 5$ which we use to buy 2 bucket of maize at 2.5$ each. This food lasts for a week."

"I have a number of challenges that my life harder. My deteriorating health renders me helpless and unable to provide for my grandchild's, Brandina Mpira, needs whom I stay with. I suffer from joint pains and sometimes general body pains and this affects my productivity. This is the only challenge I am currently facing. In turn, I have low food stock levels since I don't harvest as much from my maize field. For instance, I only got 2 bags of maize from my previous harvest."

"The moment when I received my cash transfer I was so happy and excited because I have never received such a huge sum of money before."

"The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving these payments is that in the past I had so much stress to the point that I felt that I together with my family will die of hunger..But with the coming of Givedirectly and cash, I have been saved as I am now able to eat at least twice a day and my husband Demiyala not have to work in people's garden to find food for the day."