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 around 3 pm while going about my daily work with my motorcycle taxi. That is when I heard from my customers that I was ferrying to the nearest village town that they had received their transfers. Unfortunately, I had left my phone in town charging so I couldn't verify the news. It was around 7 pm when I picked up the phone from the charging shop that I confirmed to have received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly and couldn't be happier.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Upgrading my house from grass-thatched and mud-walled to Iron roofed and timber-framed is my biggest difference. This is because, before GiveDirectly, I had started buying Iron sheets one by one as got the money from my motorcycle.
Fortunately, the arrival of transfers has made it easier to effect the change within the shortest time possible. I had also desired to have my cow for the past five years but couldn't afford but GiveDirectly has enabled me to acquire one easily.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I have worked as a motorcycle taxi for the past 15 years. The income from this normally helps me feed my family and invest in savings groups. On a good day, I can get up to KES 600 and KES 300 on a bad day. I am also a farmer of maize and beans farmer that helps in household consumption.
So when I received my first transfer my major plan was to upgrade my grass-thatched and mud-walled house. I, therefore, spent KES 25,000 on the purchase of 32 pieces of Iron sheets, timber, and payment of labor. As we speak my house is Iron roofed, three-quarters of it are timber-framed, and a quarter of it I intentionally left as mud-walled majorly to act as a Kitchen.
Secondly, I spent KES 17,000 on the heifer which is due in three months. A heifer is good because it helps one to monitor its performance once it gives birth from the beginning hence easy prediction of its production trends in the future.
Thirdly, I bought a wire mesh at KES 3500 to build a bigger poultry house because I intend to increase my poultry. This is because now have I only have 29 chickens composed of 16 chicks, 10 hens, and two cocks. Additionally, I intend to venture into quail farming to make my farm a training farm for the nearby schools.
Lastly, I spent KES 3000 on a bag of Maize. This will sustain us longer and will help reduce the daily household budget.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
My mother sold the piece of land that she had given me to build a house for my family to pay college fees for my younger brother. This left me without a house since the one that I had was demolished and had to come back home with my family. This led to so many problems including my wife returning to her home. Receiving this money will restore my family's dignity by enabling me to build a house for them to move out of the house that I was given by my brother and be able to reconcile with my wife so that we can start over again.
What is the happiest part of your day?
When my wife left us six months ago, I was so disturbed at a point that I had given up on everything. I was able to get immense support from my family and with this, I was able to bounce back and think of a better life for my children. The support helped me and I am so grateful.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Being left alone to care for our children with no stable source of income is my major challenge. I have a motorcycle that I use as a taxi to earn a living that I bought on loan. Repaying the loan is costly since it digs into the money, making it difficult for me to build a house and provide food and other needs for my two children.
