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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES
access_time almost 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
Farming was my main source of income and since it's no longer sustainable these days due to the prolonged dry seasons, I was looking forward to raising money this year to buy two dairy cows. Achieving this means that I will be able to get additional income from selling milk and thus pay school fees for my children who are in college.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
What GiveDirectly does well is giving unconditional cash transfers and believing that people know understand their priority of needs. People have been able to transform their lives in different ways we are grateful for that.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Although I am a very hardworking farmer, I haven't been able to achieve as many things as I thought I will have achieved at my age. The long prolonged dry seasons has made it impossible to achieve some of these goals I had set. At my age, I thought that I would have educated my four children and renovated my house to have a better place I can be proud to call home but also, single motherhood comes with a lot of responsibilities and I am proud that I have been able to achieve one of the goal as one of my children graduated from university and others are in collage. Since my main goal when I was enrolled was to renovate my house, I spend my first transfer to buy tiles and some other materials. I spend $480 of the second transfer to buy the remaining renovating materials and pay for the labour and spend the balance to buy two goats. I can't get enough of this beautiful house and I am so grateful to GiveDirectly for it made this dream come true.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. I saw the message at around 7:00 pm. I had earlier on heard from other people that they had received the money from GiveDirectly and I was patiently waiting for mine. When I finally received, I was filled with joy and I shared the news with my family who too were so happy about this.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life the house that I improved with the money that I received from GiveDirectly. I will no longer have to be worried of where I would get the time and materials that would help in maintaining the house by smearing the floor like before. The house is more permanent and way easier to maintain.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used all of my recent transfer to cement the floor of my house. I was living in a house with a floor made of mud. This house was getting hard and tedious to maintain as time went by. With my advancing age, I would not have enough time to go looking for mud to help me in maintaining it. I also could not get enough money from my subsistence farming to be able to improve the floor since the amount of money that I got would just be enough to buy food and other basic household needs for us.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I used to rely on intensive crop cultivation to support my family but it was until recently that my health deteriorated. This drastically reduced my family income now that I was unable to carry on with crop farming. I am left thinking of other easy ways to provide for my family. With this money, I will venture into dairy farming. I will therefore invest KES 60,000 to kickstart my dream of starting a dairy farm. This is a juicy enterprise and easy to manage. With the remaining money, I will use it as capital to start an M-Pesa shop. This will bring me happiness and an easy way to feed my family of two.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Maize production has been performing poorly in our region. I luckily harvested thirteen bags of maize last season and I felt so happy. This guaranteed me food stability in my family and as well reduce my struggle to provide food for my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I am currently battling a goiter, this exposed me to constant financial constrain. I spent more money about KES 30,000 annually on medication making my life miserable.
