"I spent part of my second transfer on buying two dairy cows at $280. I settled for them because they have so many benefits which include milk production. I am planning to sell them milk and uplift my living standard. Later on, I paid fees of $150 for my two children who are in their second year of secondary school. Currently am relaxed knowing that they will no longer be sent home for a whole academic year. This will improve their performance greatly. With the remaining cash, I have been buying food for my four children and settled all the pending bills. Being a single parent, it has been quite a challenge raising the children without any reliable source of income. I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for coming through."

"We have been residing in a one-room house with a partition separating the sleeping area from the kitchen, together with my wife and one child. I want to build a larger home this year, ideally one with two rooms so my family can live comfortably. Also, I want to get at least two dairy cows so I may milk them at home and sell the milk to my neighbors."

"I was not lucky to buy cattle with this transfer due to my pressing need of building a new home for my family. We are buying milk expensively and this is making our cost of living high. I am planning to start saving money to enable me to buy a dairy cow for my family. This will save us a lot as we produce milk for domestic use."

"In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by giving support in form of cash. This gave me an opportunity to spend the money in the ways I felt most comfortable with. Looking at the two houses that I was able to build and the dairy cow that I bought too makes me so much happy as a person who has no one else to look up to for support. The amount of happiness exhibited by my children is just overwhelming and I am so happy about it. I can only look forward towards making more improvements for my family."

"goat 5 .2@7000....cow....land 15k food....build shop general shop....house wife ...husband charcoal ...1 child.."

"As it is true that all that has a beginning always has its end, I know that GiveDictly's program will soon come to an end. Therefore, I have a goal of prioritizing some investments. Since the most viable venture in our region is livestock keeping, I aim to buy additional two goats this year. When they increase in number after a given period, I shall be able to have some source of income. It will be simple for me to start raising cows after selling some goats. In addition, I want to build a kitchen so that my kids may have a place to hang out when they become older in addition to using it for cooking."

"Neither my wife nor I have a reliable source of income. We depend on charcoal burning and selling to sustain our large family of eight members. Immediately after I received my recent transfer, I spent $20 on six domestic fowls. I did that to boost my poultry project. I am glad it is doing well since I have 20 fully grown hens. I can sell them to raise an additional income. From it, I aim to begin keeping goats and later raise cows. Because I had fee arrears for my three school-going children, I prioritized spending $10 on their school fees. As a result, they have been able to focus on their studies. Lastly, I spent $4 on foodstuff to meet the family's nutritional needs."

"Before the cash transfers, I used to burn charcoal to meet the needs of both of us, which include food and her school fees. The money could barely cover all these expenses, which made my child frequently miss classes due to unpaid fees. When I received the cash, I made it a priority to set aside an amount that would particularly cater to her school needs, which summed up to at least $60 per academic year. Am glad this has kept her in school ever since and has never missed on her learning; she is currently in grade eight. Next, I bought two cows with the remaining amount. Owning these animals is a crucial investment for the future, since as they reproduce and expand the herd, so as my wealth increases. Honestly, words are not enough to express my gratitude to Give Directly for the great support it offered my daughter and me. It has been almost a year since I received my last cash transfer and am grateful I have never set foot in a field to make charcoal for money. "

"The 3 cows that I have are not dairy cows. Every morning I would wake up and buy milk from a kiosk and the milk costs around $1 that really interfered with my day to day budgeting. The fact that I had no dairy cow made me feel bad because most of my neighbors were enjoying themselves and happily milked their cows while I had to incur cost just to get my family milk. The moment I received my transfers, I made an agreement with myself that I must go and get myself a dairy cow that I would be milking and consuming as much milk as I wanted. I spent $450 on buying the dairy cow, and since school was opening and I had not settled my children's fees, I used $50 to pay their debts and the remaining amount of $30 I bought food that we really got to enjoy with my family."

"My family of seven ( my wife and six children) lived in a dilapidated grass thatched and mud walled house before I built this decent house after I received my second transfer. Although I have always wanted to build a decent house for my family, I did not have the financial capability to do so. I am a peasant farmer and I have always depended on my dairy cow for income. With this cows only giving us nine litres of milk per day where one goes for $0.45, this money has only been enough for basic needs and school fees for my six children. I spend $300 of my second transfer to build a semi permanent mud walled two bedroom house and put up a iron sheets roof. I also spend $150 to buy a dairy calf and the balance to buy farm inputs such as fertilizer. My family is happy that we have a decent house and no longer the laughing stock in the village."