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.
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($466 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
check
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I do not have a new goal that I did not have before receiving the transfer. I had planned on building a kitchen house. I have completed the construction and now I own a better and more spacious house. I am so grateful for the support.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
The training was perfectly done as well as the registration process. Most of the people in our village received the transfer and spent it well. I do not find anything that GiveDiectly did not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent KES 30,000 to complete the construction of a new kitchen house that I started using the previous transfer. We are so happy because we now own a better and more spacious kitchen house. We used to cook in a small house before and we were not comfortable. I sent KES 10,000 to my son who is in the university to pay rent and to buy household items. He is now happy and studying well. The rest of the money I used to buy foodstuffs and household basic needs. We are so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has improved our living standards.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($490 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
attach_money
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
My spouse had gone to the shop and as I was going on with my daily household activities, I received a call from him informing me that people had already started receiving the cash and were on their way to withdraw theirs. I immediately decided to check the content of the message that I had received while I was still busy and had decided to read it later. My heart was filled with joy on seeing the Mpesa message and I quickly called him back to inform him about the good news. We celebrated as a family by making a decent meal on that day as it was a new dawn in our lives.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am soon going to start the construction of a more decent modern kitchen for my family. Its walls will be made of timber and I am planning to cement the floor so that keeping it clean will be easier. I am glad that achieving this now will be easy since I have already bought the necessary materials and I am just waiting for the mason. My daily prayer is for God to bless GiveDirectly so that they will continue with their good deeds.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My current kitchen leaks during the rainy season as it is old and the iron sheets are full of rust. Because of this, I am usually forced to move my items from one place to another whenever it rains. Upon receiving my transfer, I decided to solve this problem at once and due to this, I spent KES 35000 from it to buy some building materials after tithing KES 2000. In addition, I spent KES 5000 on one sack of maize and other food items, KES 2000 on a dress and I still have 10000 that I will use in paying for the labor during the construction of this kitchen.
Enrolled
access_time 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means a better live for me and my family, I have just started construction of a new house and since my husband retired from being a teacher, our income reduced drastically and we were still contemplating on how we can complete the new house, I really thank Givedirectly for coming to my household. I plan to spend KES.80,000 in buying house materials and use the rest in payment of labour.
It has been our ambition to build a new house nmbut we could not have managed this since we have had children who were still in school and so we had to prioritize for them first, and we had to stop from doing any development in our home.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My happiest part of the day in the evening, I love staying with my family and asking them about the experiences of the day and so the only time we are together in the evening.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
We have been struggling to pay for school fees for our three children who in a self sponsored universities, I had to go an extra mile of buying and selling milk within the community so that we can substitute with what my husband was earning.
