"Things became tough for my family when my son, who was our breadwinner, developed a mental illness that impaired his ability to work. It did not take long before all his children dropped out of school because of a lack of money for their tuition. Considering my advanced age, there is nothing much I can do to keep even one of them in class. Just so we can survive, the two older ones and I make charcoal to raise funds for food. I feel sad because they are too young to bear such a burden! Fortunately, Give Directly’s cash transfers have lifted some of these hardships ever since I started receiving them. In December, the money brought light into the Christmas celebration by allowing us to buy celebratory foodstuffs like wheat flour and rice. I spent $30 from January’s cash to secure a goat for rearing. I believe that when these animals multiply in the future, I could sell them to raise money for the household’s needs. I used the remaining money to buy water for household consumption and for my seven goats. "

"I spent part of my second transfer installing a tap water system in my compound. For so many years, I have been fetching water from my neighbors, which is a bit far and tedious in carrying the jericans. I feel there isjerricans deal of relief since I will no longer be getting tired. I also paid the college fees for my daughter, who is pursuing a teaching course. I have always wished to see my daughter get a good education and pursue her career since I never got the chance to go to school. I am confident she will have a bright future. I also bought two goats for $60. I am now optimistic that I will become wealthier in a short period of periods will, however, be of great help to me, especially in sending my children to school. Besides, whenever an emergency occurs, I will be able to sort it out. With the remaining amount, I bought food for my three family members. Taking two meals a day has never been manageable, but I am glad that through GiveDirectly, all has changed. "

"My greatest challenge is lack of income.We just do casual labour with my husband to earn a living.We now very old that even the energy we have cannot hold us to doing casual labour like we did when we were abit younger.The other big problem is the place we live in now,when it rains ,the water keeps flooding and every night in the rainy season, we are frightened that the landslide will take me and my husband.My husband was diagnosed with Hernia so he cannot even walk long distances and do casual work like then yet there is no money to aid in the medication process . Altogether, we are living here as paupers.The crops in the garden cannot yield much because it has become a water channel especially when it rains."

"I spent almost $400 on my second transfer to purchase all the necessary building materials. I had intended to construct a new house because the initial was in poor condition, and leaked during rains. Ever since I got married, I have never enjoyed it. This is because it had become a routine for me always seek shelter from my relatives during the harsh climatic change. I am now happy together with my give children since we no longer have to worry about the rains or any trouble in society. Also, I paid school fees for all my children who are still in primary school so they to sit for their exams. Later on, I bought a bicycle to support me in carrying the jerricans when fetching water from the dams. I feel relieved because I will no longer be using my head or back hence no more pain. Also, I cleared a debt of $30 to a friend which I now have peace of mind. Additionally, I bought solar which will be used by my children in doing their school assignments at night. Back then, they were using candles which were harmful to their health moreover very expensive. With the remaining amount of decent clothes and food."

"The prolonged drought in my region has hindered farming over the past few years and dried out water ponds. We mostly live on buying food and water. Unfortunately, except for casual jobs in house construction (which rarely come by), there is nothing much I can do to raise funds to provide for my wife and two sons. Besides, I have been unwell for the past year, which has impaired my capacity to leave the house and work. This forced my eldest son to bear the burden of putting food on the table, which is challenging considering the scarcity of house construction tasks. Gladly, ever since I started receiving the cash transfers, they have played an essential role in providing for my family’s basic needs such as food and school fees for my son in primary school. I spent the cash I received in December entirely on food as the household had run out of maize flour. From the most recent transfer, I used $19 to clear a tuition debt, which had been brought forward from last year. I spent the remaining $15 on a goat, with an aim of rearing it. "

"Upon receiving the second transfer, I opted to complete the construction of the house that I had started using during the first transfer. As of now, I am grateful that I completed it and I am comfortable dwelling on it. Since we are faced with water scarcity in our area, I decided to buy a water tank for storing water. The aim of the stored water is for domestic uses during the time there will be no water completely in the area. Since I did not have a bed and I used to sleep on the floor using some boxes and empty sacks, I opted to buy a nice modern bed and a mattress. Since then, I have been very happy sleeping well and comfortably, thank you to GiveDirectly. For the remaining amount, I kept it for the family's use."

"The challenge I am facing is the current hot season that we experience from the month of January to April every year, which has caused drought in my village Silayi in Butoto subcounty leading to hunger. It is challenging to because at my age I am forced to look for some casual work like digging in the neighbors so I am able to put some food on the table. Then also during the rainy season our area gets surrounded by water flowing from the the top making the ground in the house soggy making us live in fear thinking any time I and my family may be washed away by land slides."

"That I will not have to trek far to find fresh water makes me very happy. This is the outcome of the transfer that made it possible for me to apply for a freshwater connection at my residence. At first, I had to spend a lot of money on water purchases for both my household and my animals. The journey was taxing, so I decided to pay extra to hire a motorbike to bring back some water. Right now, I'm thrilled because I'll soon have access to water nearby."

"The funds from GiveDirectly found me at a most opportune time. I had been wanting to expand my poultry farming, and the transfers allowed me to do so. I added 5 chickens to my coup. With these new additions, I will have more produce to take to market and, as such, earn more revenue. I then proceeded to finally construct my two-bedroom house. I had long wanted to do so but had always been short of funds. Having built the house, the next big step was getting a 3,000-liter water tank and fitting it to the existing water supply at the new house. I also planned on stocking up on food. I bought a lot of maize grain to last us for awhile, despite growing some on my own farm. Despite having a two-acre farm, the drought had left little maize for harvesting. My husband, who works casual jobs on construction sites, earns $6 per day, when he can get one, and it hasn't been easy making ends meet on that. As such, the funds were a great blessing to us, even allowing me to pay in advance the $10 for lunch that is needed for our son, who just started PP1."

"I spent $250 on purchasing a water tank, Getting clean water in our area is not easy one has to walk for quite a long distance. This is so tedious and time-consuming, Due to my old age I would send my grandchildren to fetch water for me. I am so happy now ion that I have clean water at home and I no longer get exposed to water-related diseases. I no longer get worried about whom to send to the river to fetch water for me because plenty of water now. The remaining amount of money I spent on food, clothes and basic household needs that we were lacking."