"The biggest hardship I have faced in my life is unemployment. I don't have a stable source of earning."

"All in my life, I have wished to start livestock keeping as a way of long term project but due to the many challenges I face more so financially, I have never realized this dream. Receiving this money means achieving this long desired ambition since my plan is to spend $300 of my first transfer to buy 10 goats. This will mean a steady improvement of my livelihood since within a short period of time, they will multiply and make me a self reliable person. On the other hand, I intend to use my second transfer to repair my house by reinforcing it with stones to make it permanent something that will give our life a better version. Hence this is basically what receiving this money means to me."

"Receiving this money means financial independence to me. I plan to venture into poultry keeping project to enable me to support my spouse in providing for the family. This will cost me a total amount of $250 from building a poutry unit to buying chicken to start the project with. I also plan to build a more spacious two roomed iron roofed house which will cost a total of $350 of my transfer. I will also spend $250 to buy a dairy cow for milking and use the remaining part of my transfer to buy food and clothes for my family"

"Prolonged drought as well as crop pests and diseases in this area, has been the greatest hindrance to development in my family. I spend most of the proceeds i earn from engaging in menial jobs in people's farms buying food for my family hence i struggle hard paying school fees for my four children in school. As a result, i always find myself piling up debts from neighbours hence i have never engaged myself in income grnerating projects. This is the biggest hardship i face"

"Lack of water has been the biggest challenge in my life. I feel inappropriate to encroach on somebody's compound to get water since he worked hard and managed to connect water to his compound. This has been our source of water since I came to this house, approximately 7 months ago. I feel the entry of Give Directly to this village is a sigh of relieve on our side owing to the fact that we will be able to have reliable source of water."

"In the next six months, I will have bought a cow as investment for my family. I will be savings part of my monthly transfers so that I can use it to fulfil my long time dream. Many of my colleagues in my neighbourhood have livestock and I would not want to be left behind especially after this opportunity by GD. I would want to make use of the opportunity and better my life by carrying out an investment which will be important in my life long after the transfers. When the cow reproduces, I will have milk both for my family and sell some for an income and the number will increase which will be advantage for me."

"My life will be different in the next six months in that I will be having my own livestock. It has been a dream which I was not able to accomplish on my own with my own income. This is because of my income from casual work which could not enable me to meet all our needs in time. Now that I have cleared fees arrears for my children, I will save part of my transfers and use the money to buy a cow. The cow will be the beginning of my livestock investment which I will name GD to be a remembrance of the change GD brought to my life."

"I am happy because I started the construction of a permanent house. Previously, I had no hopes having lost my job. I had much more family needs and responsibilities. With the fish business that we started, we earn daily income to support the business. The cash transfers have empowered me alot. "

"My life is different than it would have been if I never received the transfer in that I would not have been in a position to buy building materials to build a better house for my family and also to pay the school fees on time."

"houses small house before"