"Things have been looking up since the rain began, we have now farmed maize and some green grams and other plants for food. This makes us very hopeful. If we get to harvest the plants that we planted we will have enough food and it will mean the transfers will not be used for food and hence we can now use the cash to buy animals such as chicken or goats which we will be able to rear and make an income from them. I will also be able to educate my children using the cash that I receive from Giveidrectly."

"My main goal is to engage in livestock-rearing project. With the tough times ahead and owing to the fact that I have a large family of 8 children, getting money to cater for their needs would be a great challenge for my husband and I. Therefore, I would want to venture into something that would help generate income in the long run and I plan to buy goats with the transfers that I would be getting and later sell some of them to buy cows and with the livestock in place, I am assured that I would be in a better place to even educate my children with ease."

"I have six children who are currently going to school, and with no reliable source of income, getting money to fully pay for their school fees had been a great challenge. But with the challenges, I had never given hope and my main goal is to see all my children complete their education. To achieve this, I would be saving part of my monthly transfers and the little proceeds from my business so that I have enough money to cater for their higher education."

"Lack of reliable job is the challenge I am currently facing. I am a single mother of three children and I do casual jobs earning approximately $30 which caters for food and school fees. I have a son who is in class three at Kahingoni primary and he has fees balance of $10. He has been out of class due to school fees. The first born is at Vitengeni primary and I give firewood to the school in exchange for school fees."

"My husband was amputed one of his legs last year 2022. Since then I have been taking care of the family alone. He can no longer work. The challenge is getting job to feed the family."

"Food scarcity is the challenge I am currently facing with my family. I have a shop kiosk selling shop items on small scale. The business is down such that I can spend the whole day without selling anything. I depend on the profit for family consumption but when the contrary happen then the family goes without food. This has happened more often."

"At around 3:00 pm, while busy tending to my maize on the farm, I received the first transfer from GiveDirectly. My family was with me during that moment, and I didn't waste any time in sharing the news with them after confirming it. Filled with excitement, we headed home to begin discussing and making plans for how we would spend the funds, as there were many things we needed even though we could not collect the money right away but had to wait till the following morning."

"We renovated our house because we wanted it to look good and It was going to fall down but now it is in a good condition. It costs us $390. we bought a pig of $60 that will help us to get manure"

"It's really difficult for me. I have nothing to support myself, not even a chicken. This means I must do menial jobs or burn charcoal to sustain myself. Getting food is always a nightmare for me. I am always worried about my next meal. When I get a casual job, it all goes to food. I depend on farm jobs such as planting, weeding, or harvesting. One is paid $2 for half a day of hard work. It's hard buying food due to the high cost of living."

"I bought Land of $200 because I didn't have a place to cultivate, Pig of $50 and Goat of $48 because I needed Livestocks at home and I also bought food including Beans and Rice to eat for 22.5 $. Other remaining money I bought clothes for my Children and mine"