We check in with people at each stage of the cash transfer process to see how things are going. Take a look at some of their stories as they appear here in real-time.
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Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($470 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
attach_money
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was around 4 pm and I was outside in the fields looking after my cow as it was herding when suddenly my phone rang notifying me of a new message. I decided to check what it was all about and I was surprised to find out that it was an SMS indicating that I had received the promised KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy on seeing this since the huge sum of money was going to change my life for the better. I then immediately went and shared the good news with my wife who was so happy on hearing about it too. We celebrated together as we gave thanks to God for the blessing.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference in my daily life and that of my family. The cow that we have been rearing had dried and hence we have been incurring the cost of buying milk for our consumption. We are, however, glad because having managed to buy another cow, we no longer incur the cost of buying some. The children are happy because of the new cow and they have enough milk for their consumption. With the cut-down in the daily budget cost, I have managed to save the money that I use to spend on milk. The saved money has helped in farming and paying school fees for my children. They have thus not been sent home due to arrears.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Before we got our recent transfer, we had already planned how we were going to spend it. My wife and I solely depend on farming to earn a living. We usually grow crops such as maize, and beans, and sell them to get money to pay school fees for our two children. Since we only had one cow, we decided to buy another one at KES 38000 so that we could increase our milk production. This way our children will have enough milk for their consumption. We can also sell one or two calves when the cows will have reproduced and multiplied in number to get money for paying our children's school fees. We had thought of buying another cow before but we were not in a position to, since we didn't have the money. Other than the above, we also spent KES 8000 on buying new clothes for ourselves and the children. The ones that we had, had grown old. With the remaining amount, we spent KES 4500 on paying school fees for our children. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for the support.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I dropped out of school after class eight out of a lack of school fees. I decided to venture into casual jobs as a way of livelihood. In the year 2017, I developed a chest problem out of my motorcycle taxi business. This forced me to divert my attention to farming which I am currently engaged. I have developed a passion for it and it has always been my ambition to expand and improve it. This cash to me means an added asset and improved farm produce. I am planning to spend KES 40000 to buy a lactating cow to add to my two cows. This is an achieved goal for me. I will be able to sell more milk from my farm thus have more income to educate my children and meet other family basic needs. With the offspring to come, I will be financially secured hence live a stress-free life.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I was not lucky to have gone passed the primary level of education. Nevertheless, I have to live happily and bring up a happy family. I always pray for good health and strength to enable me to go out and search for my household. Since 2017 I have been sick suffering from a chronic illness. I have lived depending on my spouse since then and this has been stressing me as a household head. In the last six months, my greatest joy has been from my improving health. I have been slowly regaining my energy and currently, I can do some farming. I feel happy to stand again for my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I struggle to see my family have access to their basic needs. My happiness is my family's better living standards. I always wish that I would easily meet these. To me, the biggest challenge is the chronic illness that my son and I have developed. I spend KES 7000 a month on our check-ups. This is too high given that I depend on farming alone.
