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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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($467 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My new goal is to buy more land. I would like to buy more land because the one that I currently live in is small and not enough to cultivate and grow maize. Planting maize will enable me to get food for my family's consumption. This way I will no longer incur a lot of costs purchasing some. I usually do a little bit of casual work to get money for buying food and other small household needs. I am not able to do a lot of heavy work because in the past I got involved in an accident and they had to fix a metal in one of my legs.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly was very organized in how they conducted their work. They did not ask for any bribe to enroll the people and they gave good advice to the people on how to spend their money. They also taught them how to use mobile money services and how to change their PIN. Everyone in the community was thus happy and grateful. I urge them to keep up the good work.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent most of the recent transfer money on paying school fees for my five children. I paid for two who are in the university and three in secondary school. I spent a total of KES 34000 on doing so. The school fees were being needed urgently and I could not see where I was going to get such a huge amount in a short time. I had therefore thought of asking the two children who are in the university to defer from their studies as a result of this. I am, however, happy that this did not happen because the transfer came in at the right time. Payment of school fees has always been our biggest challenge. My wife is casually employed as a subordinate staff at a secondary school where our children are studying and it is through work that he gets to pay for our children's school fees. Other than the above, we also bought a heifer at KES 12000. We bought the heifer so that it can help us in the future with the children's school fees and getting milk for our consumption. We also bought some iron sheets for finishing the construction of a sleeping house for our boys. We had built the house with the first transfer but we were not able to complete it since we ran out of money. We decided to build them the house so that they could have a nice place to study and sleep. This way they will no longer have to go to other boys' houses where they can pick up bad habits. We used the remaining amount to buy food. We are hence so much grateful for the help from GiveDirectly.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($493 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
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Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
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What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
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Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means an increase in my assets. Currently, I do not have any cows. I will purchase a dairy cow costing me approximately KES 30,000. It will help me if I sell the milk I get from it to earn. I also have three children in high school and one in college, whom I strain to pay for their school. I will pay up their school fees so that I can focus on other developments. This will cost me KES 50,000 a year.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day was in the afternoon. At this time my cows are well-fed and it makes me happy. I can rest happily knowing that day there will be milk for my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship was when I got into an accident 30 years ago. I was working with an electricity company. I fell off the electricity pole while repairing it. In 2017 I fell again on the road worsening the situation. The affected leg was fixed but I can't walk long distances, I use crutches to support myself. I, therefore, do not do any heavy work. My wife is burdened with providing for us as well as meeting other family needs like clothing. It saddens me when I see my wife working very hard yet I can not do much to help.
