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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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($465 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
After spending both my transfers that I received on purchasing all the things I had written down, I now have a plan of venturing into a long term project. At the moment I have not identified one but with small scale farming activities I am doing, I am also saving so that as soon as I have identified one, I will not struggle looking for capital.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GD well giving unconditional and empowering us use on what we needed
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
After receipt of my second transfer I bought a heifer at Kshs. 25,000. I used to buy milk from my neighbor and as soon as my heifer calves I will have surplus milk which I can sell to an an extra income. With Kshs. 7 000 I used to buy cushions for my two seats I had purchased with my first transfer hence making my house complete and neat. I also paid exam fees at a cost of Kshs. 1,600.With the remaining amount I bought food and clothes which can retain
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($500 USD)
access_time 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was washing utensils after taking our breakfast when one of my children came to me with my phone claiming that there's an SMS that I had just received. Upon checking it, I became so happy as it was an Mpesa message indicating that Give Directly had deposited some amount into my account. This money gave me hope that I would finally be able to fulfill my dream of owning a water tank.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The joy of a parent is to see her children happy and full of smiles and this has been my case of late. This has been contributed by the fact that my children now dress and eat well unlike before. This is because I was able to buy for them some new clothes and food to last us for some time. Due to this, we now have three meals a day and we eat a variety of food unlike before when we used to eat ugali daily and even getting two meals a day was a challenge.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When I received my transfer, I bought a water tank worth KES 22000. I decided on this so that I can be using it to harvest rain water for use during the dry season. This is because I am always forced buy clean water at KES 5 for 20 liters during this season as getting clean water is usually a hard task. In addition to this, I bought three seats worth KES 9000 since I did not have any, spent KES 11000 on clothes, school uniforms for my children and utensils and used the remaining KES 13000 to buy some foodstuffs. I bought two sacks of maize and 25 kilograms of rice.
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
The area that I live has scarce water. We buy water for use from a water vendor for at an average of 500 shillings a month which is costly. The cause of us buying water is because we receive less rainfall. I will use this money to buy a water tank at a cost of 22,000 shillings to help me store rainwater and reduce the cost of buying water. I will also buy a cow at a cost of 30,000 shillings for milk, improve my house by buying seats and the remaining amount used to stock cereals.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is during lunch time because I feel satisfied that my children have had something to eat.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Recurrent drought. The place that I live receive less rainfall which is not enough. This in turn affects the production of maize since it's the only crop I grow and also the amount of water. This has been a challenge to me and my family.
