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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. Learn more about how recipients opt in to share their stories.
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Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Mercy's Profile
Mercy's family
Mercy
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Subsistence farming
faceAge:
27
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($493 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My life is different than it would have been if I never received the transfers in that I have bought a piece of land. My family owns a small piece of land and because of this I was not in a position to do horticulture farming. I have a passion for horticulture farming and buying a piece of land was my first priority. I also use to do small business of selling second hand clothes. This was a good business though it could take much of my time and the profits was good. I wanted to do something that could make me have time to bond with my family. The incomes that I used to get from this business was only for daily household expenditure and pay school fees for my children. I did not had an extra income to save.Currently I have started doing horticulture farming, I have vegetables and beans on my farm ready for harvest. I will be in a position to have enough food for the family and sell the surplus at the market to earn earn an income to meet other basic household needs and pay school fees for my children. I also have enough time to spend with my family unlike before. I have also gotten an opportunity to learn so many things concerning farming. I am so happy because my dream has been fulfilled. Thanks so much for the support it has changed our lives .
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion GiveDirectly does well by giving money to the poor in the community to build better houses and to buy dairy cows. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spend the money I received from GiveDirectly to buy a piece of land at a cost of 40000Ksh. I have a passion for horticulture farming and since my family have a small piece of land I had to prioritize buying my own land. Currently I am doing farming in my farm, I have beans and vegetables ready for harvest. This will be additional source of income to meet other basic household needs including paying school fees for my children. The rest of the money I used it to buy food for the family. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has enabled me to own a piece of land which could have taken quite a long time to have it.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($498 USD)
access_time 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was at the farm with my sister-in-law doing some work when I heard a message notification on my phone. I decided to check what the message was all about. I could not believe what I read when I opened the SMS. It was an M-Pesa message saying that we had received the 55000/= transfer that GiveDirectly had promised us. I was filled with so much happiness on seeing this and I told my sister-in-law the good news. She was so happy for us. I then immediately called my husband who had gone off to work and I informed him about the fortune that we had received. He was so happy to hear this and we thanked God because of blessing us.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big positive change in our lives as a family. We have been able to achieve what seemed to be a dream to us. The two houses that we built with the transfer are almost ready. When they become ready, we will be able to have enough space for ourselves and the children. Guests too visiting our house will be able to have somewhere to sleep in and hence they will no longer suffer in getting somewhere to sleep. Having also constructed the houses, we will no longer be having stress thinking of where we are going to get the money to do so. We can hence concentrate on other developments such as paying for the children’s school fees. The goats that we bought will be of great help to us especially in the future. We are going to take care of them and they will reproduce and multiply in number quickly. We can hence sell some of the offsprings and use the money on other things such as paying school fees for the children. Other than the above, our children are so happy because they have been able to get new clothes for themselves. We, therefore, thank GiveDirectly a lot because they came through for us in a big way, may God bless you.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
The transfer from GiveDirectly has helped us in a very big way. We were able to build two houses that are roofed with iron sheets, that is, the kitchen and the main house. We also bought three goats and some clothes for our children. We decided to build the houses because we have been living in only one small house that is grass-thatched for quite some time. The space in the house was hence no longer enough for us and the children because the family has grown with time. Guests visiting our household have been suffering because they have been lacking a place to sleep. We have always wanted to build other houses but we have not been able to due to financial constraints. I practice small scale farming of growing crops such as vegetables and selling them. My husband on other hand has been hired to work as a taxi driver. The money that we get from these sources of income is not that much and most of it has been going to the payment of school fees for our children who are in a boarding school. We have however tried before to gather some money and save it to use on the construction of a house but it has been hard to achieve that because every time we face an emergency, we have been forced to pull out some of the money to attend to the emergency. So when GiveDirectly came into the picture, we decided to seize the opportunity and do what we have always planned to do.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money mean a lot to me because I will use it to purchase a parcel of land and build a house. My husband and I don't own a piece of land because he didn't inherit any from my mother-in-law who is also landless.This house and land belongs to my brother who is working and living in Nairobi. He allocated to us so that we get a place to call a home as we struggle to acquire our own.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My happiest part of the day is in the morning at 8am This is the time when I planned my daily chores and I hope to achieve them. I toil and moil the rest of the day trying to finish planned activities before dawn.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My biggest hardship in my life is being landless. When I got married in 2010, my husband and I started looking for casual jobs so that could save money enough to buy a piece of land but since then we have struggled to meet our goal up to date.