"I have several capital-intensive projects running this year. I want to start a chicken-rearing business and build my house too. My brother-in-law gave my husband the house we live in now when we got married since my husband did not have a house. It is a one-room house and as our family is growing we would like to have more space. This has however been impossible since my husband is our sole breadwinner, his siblings depend on him for school fees and he also needs to take care of us and this does not allow for making big savings for big projects. So when I got enrolled in GD and started receiving GD transfers I decided to contribute to this. I am saving $20 monthly and so far I have $150 which I hope to use for the house. I am also setting up a structure for chicken since I want to start rearing layers chicken for the eggs. I want to sells eggs to try get some income as a result."

"As I mentioned earlier I am a motorcycle rider. It has been my source of income for many years but the recent years business has plummeted. I do not make as much as I used before and this has affected my family. However, through GD transfers, I began a business selling chicken which has proven to be much more profitable than my motorcycle business. I would like to expand my business beyond its current capacity. This is something I am planning on working on this year. I want to become a big chicken farmer and through it provide for my family."

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"As I had mentioned earlier selling chicken is my business, I have a local hatchery from where I get the chicken and rear them to adulthood then I resell them for a profit. This was not what I had intended to do with the money I had intended to start a general shop but the expenses seemed to be above me. I have now focused on the chicken business and my hope this year is to scale. I want to be able to rear other animals as well. I believe through this chicken I can get goats which I can sell and get cows that will in turn bring a large turnaround that will go into cash I can use to make purchases such as land purchases."

"I have been able to sort out several needs that I would be previously unable to sort. My children's mattress was so old and torn I was able to replace it in march, I was also able to pay school fees and buy a goat and now I have three goats courtesy of GD transfer. I want to add more animals, to specific chickens for commercial purposes. That means I need to invest in building a chicken coup before and this is my first project for this year and then later buy the chicken. I also want to add a room to my house, which means buying roofing sheets, about 10 to ensure I have a room enough for my family."

"GD has made several of my dreams a reality. I was able to get a goat, pay school fees for my children to ensure they are in school, and also have a good bed for her children to sleep in. By the time GD was giving me this financial assistance I was winding down my project to build the house I am living in. It is a three-roomed house which accommodates my family. However, I would like to redirect some finances to build a house for my sones. Out of my 6 children, two are boys and I would like them to have a house they can live in and have some privacy. I am privy to the fact that at a point boys want that space and this house will give them that."

"This year my goals have been thought out over a long period. I had originally wanted to build another house for my family but the building is a mean feat. I live in a one-room mud-walled house which I have had from when I was a young man. This house has been washed off in sections due to the rain and parts of it have been blown away by the wind. This is no way to live. I want my family to live in a house that can stand the test of time and that's why I want to build a stone-walled house. The house is also very small for my family of 6 with four growing children. I know this is a project that might take a while but it is one I have sought to embark on for my family's sake."

"This year I have a big goal that I have had for years. My family now lives in a two-roomed mud house with very old leaking sheets of iron. It's usually very uncomfortable in the rainy season because the roof leaks and makes it impossible for me and my children to sleep. I want to change all this. I have started building a stone house for my family. It is a four-roomed house that will have a toilet attached to it. The project is quite pricey but through my savings, I believe I will be able to do a big portion of the project using these transfers. I also hope to get my child to form one as she joins in next year through this savings."

"Every day presents its challenge and we are faced with them almost on daily basis. Mostly we are faced with the scary and insurmountable challenge of food insecurity, it is a struggle to survive in our area since it is arid. The scorching sun and the prolonged drought had ravaged almost the entire vegetation and made a life here to be unbearable. We have had a successive 3 years of failed rains and therefore we had not been able to harvest the millet and sorghum that we depend on. This has made us food insecure and we are forced to buy foodstuffs at high prices which sometimes is unaffordable. This is happening at a time when the high cost of living has shot up, we are between a rock and a hard surface, and there is nowhere to turn to."

"We are a family 9 and we depend solely on charcoal burning to survive. It is a hard task to access the market because we live in an interior part of Marigat where the transport network is poor and so sometimes we sell at a throwaway price just to get a little money to purchase food. Food insecurity has been so severe due to prolonged drought that ravaged the vegetation and affected the productivity of our livestock. The situation has been further worsened by the ever-increasing cost of living that has made life unbearable. We struggle so hard to afford a Kg of maize flour that retails at $0.9 up from $0.4 which is double the initial price."