"I do not have a new goal for now since I am working on the ones that I am about to accomplish, one being rearing dairy cows. I believe that these cows will bring a very big impact on my life in the next few months. This is because as soon as they will start producing milk, I will be able to sell the milk and earn a living hence I won't struggle in fending for my family. It will also be a relief to my spouse who has been the breadwinner for all those years."

"I spent part of my second transfer on buying a dairy cow which cost almost $150. For many years, I could not afford to buy a single cow despite yearning to own them because of the financial challenges that I was undergoing. Therefore after receiving the transfers, my desire was finally fulfilled. I am certain that through this cow, I will be benefitting from the milk that it will be producing daily. I plan to sell to the local dairy shops and earn a living. This will be our major source of income that I can rely on instead of depending on the casual jobs that I have been depending on for years. Also, I had to settle the arrears of $100 for my daughter who recently joined high school. I am glad will not be sent home for the remaining months of the year. This is a motivation for her and I am certain that she will perform very well. Additionally, I settled a debt of $100 to a friend and I am happy that I now have peace of mind. With the remaining amount, I bought food for my three family members and decadent clothes for the children."

"On the withdrawal day, I bought a sack of maize for $60. This was the first thing I did because hunger had struck us and drought had no mercy on us. I am happy because my family got some food which took them some time and rested from the tiring job of making charcoals. Since I had started investing in livestock from the first transfer, I continued by buying a cow for $170 and four chickens for $12. I also bought four iron sheets for $44 to renovate my house. In addition, I bought four plastic chairs because I had only one chair at home. This was shameful once I receive visitors and I had to borrow from neighbors or offer the visitors some logs to seat on. I saw it prudent to keep the remaining amount for the family's use."

"When I received the money for the second time, the first thing I thought of was nice sleeping places. My children and I used to sleep on small traditional beds which were not comfortable. Instead of waking up relaxed and restful, we used to wake up exhausted. Therefore, I opted to buy two modern standard beds and two mattresses for $330. One bed was mine and the other one for my children. As of now, we are very happy because we usually wake up strong, refreshed and ready to pick up the day's activities. I also bought 10 goats as an investment. I chose goats over cows because of the climate condition in our area. Goats can survive in harsh conditions while cows cannot cope. For the remaining amount, I used $50 to pay school fees for my children and used the rest to buy some food for the family."

"Receiving this money means that we'd be able to complete our house project, thus, cement the floor and plaster it outside. I have always wanted to finish up this project and have a nice house structure for myself and my family but due to lack of funds I have been unable to do this. This would require 10 bags of cement that would cost about 120$, with respect to the current inflations. As a HH we'd thereafter go and buy 10 bags of maize for food. This would be sufficient to sustain us until next harvesting season. Having done that we would go on and buy a cow for meat and milk production. We'd be selling these right here in our village for as it is there's nobody doing it so we feel we'd make money from this and help improve our lives beyond the cash transfers from GD."

"When I received the first transfer, I used part of it to buy a dairy cow. I had made a promise to myself that I will use part of the second transfer to build a house for my son. My son had just graduated to adulthood and it meant that he could no longer sleep under the same roof with is henceforth. I had purposed to build a house for him before but I was unsuccessful. This was so because the money that I had accumulated through merry g round that was meant for building a new house were diverted to buying a dairy cow since the one that we had died at around that time. I was forced to forego building this house in until a later date. I therefore used $230 of the second transfer to build my son a new house. The house has since been completed and my son has already moved into it. I feel very happy knowing that he now has the privacy that he did not have while he slept over with other young men in a house within our compound. He has also had enough time to concentrate in his studies and reduced cases of disciplinery issues. This make me so happy and I feel responsible as a parent. I used the amount that remained to buy food, clothes for my children and other basic household needs."

"We had already built a dairy unit before we received a transfer from GiveDirectly. Our focus was to keep modern cows in under zero grazing unit. Having received money from GiveDirectly that enabled us pay school fees for our children as well as invest in other agricultural activities, we are now focused on purchasing a dairy cow that we will keep in this unit. We are saving big from my husband's earnings considering that we have enough money to buy food from the existing poultry project as well as dairy that we keep. This project we expect shall be actualized soon enough and it shall raise the living standards of our family a lot."

"Providing enough feed to the dairy cow I bought with the second transfer has been difficult, and the maintenance cost sometimes outweighs the productivity. To deal with this, I have set a new goal of growing more feeds - both Nappier grass and other grasses - to store in anticipation of the dry seasons. I have set aside some land that is currently being prepared. This will ensure that my cow has plenty of feed throughout the season."

"Life became unbearable the moment my wife left me. It forced me to raise my children single-handedly. Life was unbearable because I depended on casual jobs to earn a living, which was barely enough. Upon receiving my second transfer, I was relieved because I knew that I would be able to buy a dairy cow which I had yearned for so long. Therefore, I bought a cow worth $300. With it, I knew that I would be able to cut down on the cost of buying milk. I could not afford a cow due to financial constraints. I am so happy that my three children will have enough milk for their daily consumption, thus I am grateful."

"Investing in livestock has been my desire for a while. Besides the goats which I already had, I used $150 of the second transfer to buy three additional goats alongside four sheep for $40, eight chickens, and two ducks for $16. I opted to invest more in goats because they are cheaper compared to cows and they have ready markets. After that, I added $50 to the remaining amount and constructed a new two-room block house. The $50 had remained from the first transfer. The reason for building this house is because the house I lived in was in a poor state. Leave alone leaking during the rainy season, it was also on the verge of collapsing because the poles had been destroyed by termites. After my calculations, I realized that renovating the house was more expensive than building a new one."