"The house we're currently living in is small and it cannot accommodate us comfortably. Despite it being a two rooms house, the rooms are so small. Currently, we have a goal of building a more spacious house as a family. We're planning to buy building materials in bits every month once we get our transfers using a portion of it. Though it will take us a longer time to achieve this, we have hope that we will finally complete the construction process. My husband provides taxi services to people using his motorcycle. With this work, he is able to pay school fees for our children and cater to some of our needs. Without GiveDirectly, I will not be able to help my spouse achieve this goal and it will take us more time since we will be depending on only one source of income to cater to all our needs."

"Being that I am still a student, I have so many things that I wish to achieve in life. The most important one to me is to become a doctor so that I can help people by treating the sick. I know that I can only achieve this by working extra hard in school so that I can be able to continue with my studies. Currently, my aim is to continue supporting my brother in paying for my school fees using part of my transfers. This will always enable me to concentrate with my studies since I will not be in and out of school due to fee arrears."

"Catering the cost of education for my children is what has challenged me at the moment. This is because, I have 8 children who are still schooling two in colleges while the rest are in both primary and secondary schools. Since I do not have a reliable source of income, I purely depend on selling my livestock but as I speak, I only have 10 goats which can not support them to finish their studies. My recent biggest worry is when my husband who has been a pillar to the family, got an accident which led to the loss of his job as a security officer. I am currently the sole breadwinner of the family since my husband has not secured a job and he is involved in small casual jobs. Thus, I consider financial constraints as my biggest challenge."

"Housing is the current challenge I am facing in life. I have a family of eleven members and all live in a two room house without bedding. Two of the children seek shelter from neighbors. This is very risky for a girl child to walk alone over night looking for a shelter. I lack the capacity to build a spacious house to accommodate all the family."

"A reliable source of income is the challenge I am currently facing in life. My husband and I do casual jobs making little income that caters for food and school fees. I have eight children at school and most of the time they miss classes due to lack of school fees. This affects their performances."

"I plan to grow and expand my business from a retail shop to a wholesale one. I want to use the returns to educate my five children, all of whom are in school. I believe education is crucial for a better life, something I couldn't complete myself I only finished elementary school and couldn't continue due to lack of fees. I don't want my children to face the same struggles I did."

"With my three daughters still in school, I've decided to make a change. Instead of continuing the tough work of unsustainable charcoal production, I'm planning to start a small grocery shop selling vegetables and fruits. This way, I can support my girls' education while also moving away from the laborious tasks of charcoal making. It feels like the right step forward, providing for my family in a more sustainable . By diversifying our income sources, we won't just rely on the goats for financial stability."

"As a Community Health Promoter, my job is to ensure that people in my community live a healthy life according to government health standards. My job is purely voluntary, so I do not earn a reasonable amount to support my family. My husband works as a mason, and therefore, with his meager earnings, we depend on him to support our family, which includes six school-going children: two in college, two in secondary school, and two in elementary school. With his earnings, paying for school fees and supporting my family has been a challenge for him. As a result, the children in secondary and elementary school had a school fees balance, and the current school fees totaling $225 were yet to be paid. On this late afternoon, I was at home alone, preparing dinner for my family, when a message popped up on my phone and I saw that it was a mobile money notification from GiveDirectly. A rush of joy and happiness flowed through my body as I sang, danced, and praised God while I was cooking because it felt like a miracle to me. This was a gleam of hope for my family because the first thing that rushed into my head was the thought that my children's school fees were sorted, and they wouldn't have to worry about being sent home to collect school fees, as this was the issue that was currently pressing us so much."

"Financial instability is what stands out as my biggest challenge. This is because, we live in a polygamous family and my husband is jobless due to his old age. This has forced me to engage in casual jobs like charcoal burning to support the family. Since the income from this activity is low and can not be estimated due to the random nature of my activities, my children's education has been affected the most. My two daughters completed their senior secondary studies but they are yet to join college. This has worried me a lot because it can trigger them into unexpected early pregnancies due to the idleness at home. What a challenge!"

"Living at home alone is something that has affected me psychologically because I always get stressed especially during night hours. Considering my age, I feel so vulnerable and anything bad can happen to me. My house is also small and it's roof is half open, a situation that make me rained on during this rainy season. What a life to worry about! I have wished to have enough money to construct a decent house but this has never been possible. All these combined has complicated my life and It's what makes my life harder."