"We are people of little means who live from hand to mouth. We depend on casual jobs which are rare to come by and so getting money to fend for the family is hard to the extent that putting food on the table is a tall order, so we are grappling with the challenge of food insecurity, this has preyed upon our greatest fear. As parents, we feel bad when our children go to bed on an empty stomach. It pains and it is so haunting, we are always immersed in deep thoughts of uncertainties that we somehow feel we have failed to provide for them nor done enough to better the situation. The cost of living has risen up and at times when we are lucky to get casual jobs the wages are never enough to purchase enough food to last for some days."

"In the coming year, I hope to see my children being able to advance in academics. Before being enrolled in the program, I was almost giving up on their schooling since we could not raise their school fees. However, GiveDirectly's monthly transfers have been in handy. Although their fee arrears had accumulated, my husband and I have always found it easy to pay a portion of the transfer as school fees. They always have adequate time in school. When the trend continues undisrupted, I am optimistic they will succeed in their studies. After that, I can consider investing in poultry farming and raising goats. That can be a trusted avenue for generating a supplementary family income."

"My main goals that I would wish to accomplish are; to have a livestock rearing project. I would be setting aside part of my monthly transfers of around $10 so that I could purchase chicken and later sell them to buy goats, with this, I would be one of the greatest farmers in the area. I would also wish to educate my children without any challenges of school fees and with the livestock in place, getting the money would not be difficult because I would be selling some livestock to get the money"

"My plan for the next year and beyond is to have the permanent business premise for my tailoring business. I would wish to complete the construction works and buy more stock so that people people would have a variety of to choose from. I known that in the near future, I would be the most known tailor in the entire region."

"Food insecurity is the greatest challenge in this area due to drought. For the past three years, we have not harvested any food staff from our farms due to inconsistent rainfall. My husband and I rely on casual jobs to earn a living, and because of the inconsistency in income, it is hard enough to afford three meals a day but only two. Food prices have relatively gone up recently and with the rising cost of living, we use all our hard-earned money to buy food for our family of five."

"The biggest challenge I'm faced with is the lack of food. I'm living with my daughter who is a returnee and I'm the sole provider for the seven of us. Food has become a challenge since we have experienced prolonged droughts which has led to our farms being unproductive. We long for rains to come so that we can grow some maize to sustain us through the rest of this year."

"The greatest challenge that I face at the moment is the lack of food. This has come about because of the prolonged drought that has hit our county for the past three months. In addition to this, I also live in a poor structure and since the rains have started, I get rained on and I fear that I might contract some airborne diseases such as a common cold."

"While growing up, I desired to pursue academic excellence. However, my dream was cut short due to poverty, my parents were too poor to afford my education expenses. When I got enrolled in GiveDirectly's program, I resolved to support my children's education with the transfer. At the beginning of this year, I revisited the same goal and did not see a need to develop a new goal. Therefore, my sole goal that I work to accomplish by the end of this year is to see my children go to school courtesy of the transfers. Both my husband's and my wages are too low to cater to their academic needs."

"Owing to the current situation in our area, obtaining food has been extremely hard. Despite the attempt by the entire community to do farming, our crops have been failing for the last four consecutive seasons. It leaves us with no option but to dig tree roots for charcoal burning. However, with the assurance of the monthly transfers, I have a goal to always focus on obtaining food for my family of ten members. I shall, therefore, be spending a large proportion of my transfers to acquire food every month probably for the rest of this year. It will play a key role in reducing my stress."

"My priority was building an appropriate kitchen. I bought iron sheets, construction wood, nails all worth 150 $, I bought a goat for 60 $, sheep worth 55 $, I paid a 55 $ debt and bought some clothes for my children for 17 $. I was in need of a kitchen and livestock."