GDLive Newsfeed
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.
Stages:
 
Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Faith's Profile
Faith's family
Faith
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Small business
faceAge:
22
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($490 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
A lot has changed in my life since GiveDirectly came into our lives. First, I have good seats in our home which I couldn't afford to buy anytime soon. I used to admire those of my neighbors but now I have some which are as good as there's. I am so greatful to GiveDirectly for enabling me to acquire them. Again, I have good lighting system at our home. Before, I would spend alot on buying kerosene and this wouldn't give us good lighting. Now we got clean and safe lighting in our home courtesy of GiveDirectly's transfer as I acquired a battery and a solar for lighting. Lastly, it wouldn't be fair I left out a dairy cow which I bought. Buying milk now has be something of the past and now am the one selling some milk to my neighbors. All these wouldn't be possible with the support which I received, thank you GiveDirectly.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
According to me, GiveDirectly did well by coming up with such a project to support us. Some of us were having great ideas but limited resources. Now we have realized what we were yearning for sometime. On the other hand, I didn't see anything that was unacceptable with operations of GiveDirectly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I had been buying milk for sometime but when I got my first transfers I had alot to accomplish and I bought a heifer with part of it. I ran out of patience as the heifer would take long before it reproduce and gives us milk. I opted to resell when I received my second transfers and added KES 24000 to make it KES 40000 which was enough to buy a lactating cow. I then bought one which is now giving us milk for use at home and the surplus which we sell for income. The remaining portion, I spent KES 8000 on buying two sheep for rearing and another KES 1500 on buying chicken. I also obtained water container, cushions and food items at a cost of KES 7300. The remaining amount of KES 5000, I gave to my spouse so that he would spend on supporting his poultry business.
 
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 at home and I didn’t have my phone with me at the time the money was being sent to the people. My husband was the one who had the phone and he had gone to the nearby town. He was hence the first person to receive the M-Pesa SMS. He was so happy on seeing this that he decided to come back home immediately so as to inform me of the good news. He came back home happy and he showed me the message that he had received. I became so happy too on seeing it and I now believed that what GiveDirectly had promised us was real. We rejoiced together because we knew that with this transfer, we were going to move a step forward and most of the problems that we had will go away. We then prepared ourselves and we went to withdraw the money.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer from GiveDirectly has brought a big difference in my life and that of my family. We have been able to buy a cow that we have always wanted to have. We are going to take care of it and when it reproduces, we will be able to get milk that my children can consume. With the milk supply, we will thus have avoided the costs of buying milk and we can use the money on other important things. Having bought the solar panel battery, we hence no longer have to borrow it. The chairs that we bought have made our house look good and we can now sit comfortably together with our friends and family and chat. The transfer also enabled us to buy a bag and a half of maize. This maize has enabled us to have something to eat and hence we will not be having worries about where to get money to buy food. Our children are happy too because they got new clothes for themselves and they have something to eat. All of the above has been possible due to GiveDirectly, thank you so much for the support.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
The transfer from GiveDirectly has helped us in a big way. We were able to buy a cow with part of it. We also bought a solar panel battery, a woofer, chairs, food and some clothes for our children. I have always wanted to have a cow of my own because I have been buying milk for a while now. The milk that we buy is only enough to prepare tea and hence our children have been lacking milk for their consumption. We had bought a solar panel but we had not bought a battery for it. We have been borrowing the solar battery and hence when the transfer came in, we decided to buy one of our own. We also had no chairs in our home and hence we decided to buy them when we got the transfer. The above was not possible for us to do before due to lack of money. My husband has a small business of buying and selling chicken and I usually practice some small scale farming. The money that we get from the business and farming has mostly been going to the purchase of food. It was hence not possible for us to make any other developments.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
My desire, for the longest time now, is to venture into dairy farming. I love it because apart from it being a source of income, milk is also a good source of protein, especially for young children. Starting this business will save me the cost of buying milk every morning. I spend 100 shillings to buy 2 liters of milk daily. This translates to 3000 shillings in a month. My husband and I have plans to buy a dairy cow worth 30000 shillings to start us off this journey. Once we have it, we can rest assured that our family will get a reliable source of milk of at least 5 liters daily. This will earn us 250 shillings every day which will go to our savings kit. Receiving this money will guarantee my family some sort of financial independence.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I am always happy in the afternoon because this time comes with some rest. In the morning, I engage myself in tedious activities like fetching water and firewood. I also do some weeding on my farm. All these jobs require a lot of effort. The rest that I enjoy in the afternoon is the biggest source of my happiness.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Accessing clean drinking water in this area is quite a hustle. We go for close to 5 kilometers to get to the nearest water point and because it serves almost the entire village chances of it getting dirty are high. We carry it on our backs using 20 liter Jerry cans. Personally, I make 7 trips daily to get enough that can sustain me for the whole day. This exercise often leaves me with a lot of backaches that last days if not weeks. I get some rest when we are lucky to get some rain. I do this single handedly because my husband is culturally not allowed to help me do such kind of jobs