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
53150 KES ($436 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
At the moment, I mainly rely on my spouse to take care of the home duties, however occasionally I burn charcoal for sale. He is a gardener at a nearby farm, but his wages are insufficient to meet our needs. However, the charcoal industry is complicated, and the profits are limited. So, in an effort to increase our income, I plan to open a grocery store. Even if our household income is insufficient, we will save as much as we can to spend later to start the firm.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
I do not know much more about the organization, but I appreciate them helping us. The majority of the items I could not afford to possess, including a nice house and comfortable bedding, were able to be acquired because of the support. They have a well-trained and well-behaved workforce and do not use discrimination when providing service. There is nothing wrong with the group , the villagers are all content and joyful.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used $160 of the second transfe to complete the building of a new house that I had begun. Our old home was only one room, so our kids had to ask our neighbors for a place to sleep, but I'm glad they now have their own room. I offered my spouse, who had recently completed his driver's education course, $100 so he could apply for a license. We will hopefully increase our household income once he finds employment. $85 I used to clear the debts our children owed the school in both secondary and primary school, which has provided them plenty of time for their studies as they are no longer sent back home. We used the remaining $185 to buy food that would last our family for a long period.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($465 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
The moment I received my transfer, I can vividly recall that I was at the farm. I heard my phone ringing but since I was busy with farm work I chose to ignore it thinking that it was one of those messages from the service providers. Upon reaching home later in the day, I told my son to check out what the message was all about. That was when he broke the good news to my husband and me that we had received a sum of KES 55,000 from GiveDirectly. We were all lost in happiness and excitement. I am so grateful for the support that brought so much happiness into 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 have been able to accomplish my dreams in a short period. I was able to purchase a bed and a mattress, I never thought that I would have purchased them anytime soon due to financial constraints. Secondly, My dream of constructing a decent house for my family will soon be realised. I am grateful to the organization for putting smiles on our faces and for transforming our living standards.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When GiveDirectly promised us unconditional transfers, I had plans lined up on how I would utilise my transfer. Therefore, I used KES15,000 in purchasing Iron sheets so that I would be able to build a house once I receive my second transfer. I then used KES 12500 on buying a new bed and a mattress. This is because the ones that we had were old and no longer presentable. Lastly, I bought a goat at KES 3500. I am so grateful for the support that enabled me to accomplish a lot that had been pending due to financial constraints.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Upon receiving the first transfer of 55,000 KSH I plan to buy beddings for my family, as currently we are sleeping on torn old materials that we fold together to bring cormfot and pass our nights; this will cost around 35,000 KSH.
For the remaining 25,000 KSH I plan to build my sons a seperate house because at the moment they are sleeping at their uncle's house and I want them to own their home too.
At least when their cousins or other family members visit, they can host them as well.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I have been very sick in the past year, but as at now am so healthy and no signs of ailment, and I even plan to celebrate this as God has been merciful to me.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Getting basic needs has been very challenging, I and my spouse work as charcoal burners, where he takes the charcoal product to sell in Mombasa once in a week.
The business isn't doing well as police harass him on the way to extort whatever few he has.this has been very tough because it's the only business we rely on for living, and paying school fees for my sons who are in secondary school, the motorbike needs to be fueled at least every trip to Mombasa and also at the same time we need to provide for family, buy food, clothes, pay for medication; sadly we cannot balance all this because of low income and hard economic times.
