"The biggest hardship I have been facing in my life is food insecurity. My family has been running without food for quite some time. The casual jobs I engage in are not sustainable enough to my family. Seeing my grandchild sleeping without eating anything really breaks my heart."

"Receiving this money means that I can start my tailoring business. I took a tailoring course in 2011. Ever since then I have been yearning to start my business but lacking capital since I rely on casual jobs as the only source of income. I get about $3 per day that I use to buy foodstuffs for my family. When I get this money, I will spend about $400 to buy clothing materials to begin with since I already have a sewing machine and the customers. I expect to start making upto $500 per day that will cover both household needs and education for my children."

"In my opinion GiveDirectly does well by giving money to the poor in the community to build better houses and to buy dairy cows. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well."

"My life is different than how it would have been if I never received the transfers in that I have build a better and spacious house. I live in a small grass thatched house which is leaking from inside. I depend on small scale farming and casual jobs in the village to earn an income. The amount of money that I get through this is so small and cannot meet all the basic needs of the family. I rarely save some money to buy building materials. I had always wished to own a better house. We are being exposed to cold during the rainy season. When I received the second transfer I found it wise to buy building materials and build a better house. The construction is on going, it's almost done. We will be happy to move in to a better house with my family. We will no longer be exposed to cold. Whenever I have visitors I will not shy off to welcome them like before. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed my living standard and given me hope to still strive for greatness."

"The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have bought a water tank. I used to walk for a long distance to collect clean water for drinking and for domestic used. This was tiresome and time consuming. This was limiting me from my daily chores. The water we were collecting at the river was so dirty. We were being exposed to water related diseases which is so expensive to cure. We do small scale farming and the harvest that we get is only for consumption. I did not had some savings to purchase the water tank. When I received the transfer I felt so happy because I knew I would be able to buy a water tank. Currently we drink clean water and no longer exposed to any water related diseases. I have save much of my time to work on my farm. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has enabled us to live a better life than before."

"I spent the money I received from GiveDirectly on purchasing a dairy cow. This has cut the cost of buying milk daily which is so expensive. I also renovated my house to look better than before. This had always been my dream. The rest of the money I bought sofa set seats and food for the family. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed our living standard."

"The moment I received the transfer I felt so happy. I remember it was around 10 am when I heard a ringtone message from my phone. I was on my farm spraying my crops. I stopped to check it first. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was a message indicating that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I ran home to inform my family members. We celebrated together. I went to withdrew the money that same day and bought iron sheet for building the house. This was my first priority because we bad small house which could not host all the family comfortably. I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has changed our living standard."

"Being raised by a single parent, school fees and food shortage was the biggest hardship I experienced. This lead me to drop out of school, I am currently struggling with casual jobs to earn a living and feed my family which is not easy for me."

"Hunger and food shortages have been my biggest hardship. We rely on subsistence farming but, unfortunately, maize has not been doing well in our region making us depend on casual jobs to feed the family. What I earn from this job is not enough to buy us food. We at times skip meals or even use less preferred foods like tea and sweet potatoes for lunch or supper."

"I developed chest complications and it has cost me a lot of money for treatment. With my health condition, I can no longer do casual jobs to earn a living and support my family. This is the biggest hardship I have been going through."