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.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was a great day for me when I received the transfer and words cannot express how happy and grateful I was. I had not known of the good news until when my helper informed me about it since I cannot read or write due to my old age. This was my first time to receive such an amount of money and I knew that I would be able to achieve a lot.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
It has always been my dream to build a more spacious iron-roofed house where I can harvest rainwater for domestic use when it rains and where I will not be forced to assemble all my beddings and clothes in one corner during the day. I never thought that I would ever be able to achieve this again due to my old age since currently, I depend on my children for most of the things as I cannot do any casual work. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for making my dream come true as I was able to use my transfer to achieve this thus changing my life. I am so excited and can't wait for it to be completed so that I can move in.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When I received my transfer, I spent KES 24000 to build a more spacious and decent house since the one I was living in was small as it was one room. With the spacious house, I can host visitors any time and my beddings and clothes will remain clean most of the time as I will no longer be moving them from one corner to another. Also, I managed to buy a dairy cow worth KES 20000 and this is of great joy to me as it has never been any easier for us to share the milk with my children that are not always enough. Using the remaining KES 6000, I bought some foodstuffs and clothes for myself.
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
This house I occupy at the moment is singled room .I cook and sleep in the same house .The smoke has affected my eyes,with my old age I feel it might affect me more. To add on that,the clothes picks the smell of the smoke which is not good. My desire has always been to have a better house,I want to build a iron sheet roofed house. It will cost approximately USD 45000, the extra money will go towards building a poultry house for my chicken,I don't have one at the moment.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My happiest part of day is in the morning when I wake up,I don't take it for granted. I am born again christian and seeing each day is my joy .
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I am a widow. Since my husband passed away ,I have been lonely and life changed significantly. Life was good and better when my husband was alive. Raising the family singly was not easy.
