"I went out to carry some water from a distant source in the afternoon, leaving my phone at home to charge. When I returned and took a break, I noticed a notification on my phone. Unfortunately, I couldn't read the messages, so I called my helper for assistance. After checking, my helper confirmed that I had received my first transfer from GiveDirectly. I was so filled with joy and relief, knowing that I could now pay my son's fees. This was especially important as my children had been sent home from school due to my inability to pay their fees on time."

"I have been sheltering in a small, dilapidated house with a roof made of palm tree leaves that had weakened over time. I was worried that it wouldn't withstand heavy rains and feared it would collapse unexpectedly. Additionally, I had to frequently replace the roof with new palm leaves, which was expensive and tiresome. Building an iron-roofed house seemed impossible since I couldn't afford the necessary materials like poles and iron sheets. However, after receiving the first transfer from GiveDirectly, I felt empowered to build a decent, iron-roofed house. I'm thankful to them because with their help, I acquired the necessary materials such as 24 pieces of iron sheets and poles, and I am now in the process of building a new, spacious house. I'm very much at peace and happy that I will no longer face the challenges I went through, such as having a leaky roof that could even destroy my belongings during heavy rains. I am grateful that I now have a good, comfortable place to live."

"My greatest challenge currently is the floods that wrecked havoc in our village. I had planted butter nuts on my farm and was about to harvest when floods came and destroyed it all. This has left me without money and I have difficulty providing for my family since the small amount I expected to get from the farm got taken by the recent floods. This saddens me so much and I have been left with worry and uncertainty about my family's future and survival."

"Currently, I'm facing a lot of challenges. However, the most pressing challenge I'm facing at the moment is the sickness that has made it difficult for me to work and provide for my family. I haven't been able to go to the hospital because of a lack of money which has made it even worse for me. I'm in a lot of pain which makes life almost unbearable."

"While my spouse Kazungu earns $10 a week as a cleaner, I operate a small business and make $1 per day.Our combined income is insufficient to educate our children and provide food for a family of eight. Consequently, the difficulties I am currently facing stem from not having enough money to meet my family's basic needs."

"Lack of reliable source of income is the current challenge I am facing in life. I do casual jobs which are rare to access making approximately $60 per month which caters for food and school fees for the children. Sometimes the children miss classes due to lack of school fees."

"Housing is the challenge I am currently facing in life. My husband and I lives in a two room semi permanent house that has stayed for over 35 years now. The mud walls are now weak and can be brought down by strong winds anytime. It is risk living in this house."

"I own a retail shop and a posho mill in the village, but the revenue from these businesses is inconsistent. One reason for this is that the prolonged drought in the area brought on by climate change has discouraged people from harvesting maize, which has decreased the number of people visiting the posho mill.Furthermore, the majority of customers in my retail store will purchase items on credit rather than paying cash because the majority of the local population does not have a reliable source of income. Due to the lack of revenue from these businesses, it has become increasingly difficult to provide for the majority of my family's basic needs."

"Once this financial aid comes to an end in the future, I want to be in a position where I will have financial security and can totally rely on myself. To achieve this, I want to keep on saving my transfers from GiveDirectly in our local savings group, and once they mature, I will use the money to buy more goats. I am hopeful that these goats will multiply and increase in number and value so that in the future, when I am faced with pressing issues in our family, I may be able to sell them and help my family out. I am glad about this envisioned future that I have, and I am hopeful that I will be able to achieve it so that I may have the financial independence that I have always longed for."

"My house is in a very poor state where the roofing is made of nylon covers, and this is really depressing. I want to improve the roofing from nylon to iron sheets. My plan is therefore to keep saving my transfers in a merry-go-round savings group where we pool funds together so that when it is my turn, I may use the pooled funds to buy the iron sheets and give my house better roofing. Having a better-roofed house will make me very happy, and I am hopeful that this will come true. In addition to improving my home's roofing, I also plan to keep using part of my transfers to buy more chickens and, if possible, goats with hopes that they will multiply and increase in number, and I can then sell them and use the proceeds to buy small cows. These cows will be a great source of income in the future, as once they grow and increase in size and value, I can sell them and use the money to provide for my family."