"When i receive this, i will buy a big battery for maximum capacity for the charging as video show business especially now that it's rainy season. I will also buy a new bicycle for easy movement and at least 3 bags of maize. I also want to own livestock so I will buy cattle, goats and some chickens."

"To date, am glad at how perfect the transfer timing was. I will not lie, my family had slept without eating the previous night and the only option was to look for any farm work to buy them food. So, I used $14 to buy maize flour and other foodstuffs. At least, my four school-going children would attend their classes more cheerful having eaten enough. Also, their school fees had been accumulating for the entire academic term due to a lack of funds, and I paid $16 to lower the balances. I secured a hen with the remaining cash to increase the stock I already own. Usually, I sell these chickens for money when there is any obligation weighing on my husband. Honestly, providing for our six babies and me burdens him so much given that his only income source is charcoal burning, which yields very little."

"Initially, my living condition was pathetic. Getting some food was a big challenge. I had to look for casual labor, make charcoals and fetch some firewood for sale; it was tiresome. Currently, I took a break from these kinds of work and I get enough food unlike before because of the transfer I got from GiveDirectly. In addition to that, I used to stay in an odor house since I lived in the same house with my goats and chicken. The smell was unbearable though I had to. As of now, I am very happy living like other human beings because GiveDirectly enabled me and I now have a decent separate house which I constructed using the transfer. I give my gratitude to GiveDirectly for seeing me through this situation."

"By the time I received the transfer, my form two son, Sammy, had been complaining about an overdue school fee balance. His older brother, who mainly finances his education, had not earned enough money from his motorcycle job to pay off the $15 debt. So I used part of the cash transfer to pay off the debt so he could study peacefully and take his end-of-year exams. At the same time, my family had just run out of food the night before, and I had no way of replenishing it. Fortunately, the transfer timing was perfect, and I spent $15 for maize flour and washing powder. To this day, there is still enough food for my two boys and me, for which I am immensely grateful to Give Directly. I used the rest transfer money to buy two hens. At least, I won't be worried about not having enough chicken to feed visitors whenever they come. "

"I am a masonry, married with five children. I have been living in a thatched mud house since I married my wife. When I got enrolled, the first transfer enabled me to build a blockhouse from the foundation to the installation of window panes. I spent the second transfer of $250 to build a chicken coop because I wanted my wife to start chicken rearing. I paid off a debt of $50 and the remaining cash was used to buy new doors and other building materials for my two-roomed house and the toilet."

"I raise livestock like goats, cows, chicken and sheep to earn a living although in small quantity. In the coming year and beyond, I will be adding more livestock. Since I still have young children in Primary School, I will be practising subsistence farming like maize, beans, potatoes, cabbages and onions. I will be selling some of the farm produce to get money for my kids school fees. Currently their performance have been affected by them missing classes due to lack of school fees. I am looking forward to have a long term saving plan which will be catering for the school fees till end of college. I will be topping it up with the profits from the groceries shop which I have been running since I got my last transfers."

"I am a housewife and this narrative of being jobless is not appealing to me. I depend on my husband for everything. I have come up with an idea for poultry keeping. I already did find the cost and started moving forward. I will use $300 to make the structure, $200 to buy the chickens and start the project and use $200 for their feeds. The project is for broilers and I hope I will succeed in this. There is a ready market available at Matanomane center with five food kiosks available. This project will elevate poverty in my household and also share responsibilities with my husband. Thanks to Givedirectly organization for their program."

"Life has put my husband and me through the wringer, especially with the ongoing drought and having ten children to support. It has not been an easy journey. We rely heavily on charcoal burning to meet our family's necessities, particularly food and school expenses. However, the earnings are not sufficient. The physical rigors of the practice hinder us from producing much charcoal. Also, imagine digging tree stumps on an empty stomach while pregnant; you won't go very far. The best we can make in two weeks is $10, which barely fits to feed all of us. Right now, we are unable to enroll nine of the children in school because we cannot pay the costs. When I started receiving transfers, I began buying and rearing chickens. At least, as they multiply and grow, I will be able to sell them to help fund my children's education. So I spent $6 on four more hens. $13 went toward food, and $5 went toward my fifth-grade daughter's school fees. I saved the remaining $10 through a self-help group to help me with my needs whenever am stuck. "

"All my life I have been a farmer, it's the only job I do well. I would like to add more livestock to my current one, add the chicken so that I generate more income and save more for rainy days."

"In the next two years, I hope to have made good profits from the sugarcane and bananas I have planted, so that I can venture into the chicken business because I feel like it is more reliable due to climate change which is riskier to crops."