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 ($428 USD)
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?
I would like to reopen my business and add more stock. I would also want to establish my business in a market where there is a crowd so that I can sell more and get profits.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
The organization is structured well, from the first meeting they conducted up to the moment we received the money. It was the best experience of my life.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Before receiving the transfer, I had a grocery shop selling sardines, maize, cassava, tomatoes, onions, and leafy vegetables. In a day I would make $3.5 which would help me buy food. My husband pays for school fees. Then came a drought that made food expensive and I could not afford to continue with the business. I stayed home depending on my husband. Receiving this transfer has helped me pay school fees for my children without straining my husband, Bought a mattress, and early on we all slept on the same bed and for the rest I bought food.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($470 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I woke up at around 2 am because of a call from nature; I took my phone to switch on the torch only to find a message. I told my helper about the same and he checked on it since I do not know how to read. He happily told me that it was the promised transfer from GiveDirectly and it had been sent since 11 pm. I was filled with happiness and this made me not sleep for a long time thereafter.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Initially, getting a daily meal was a challenge for my family and we used to sleep hungry for some days. The struggle that I was going through was so much, but thanks to GiveDirectly who came to my rescue. The organization empowered me to get a motorbike thus having an income-generating activity that as a family we can rely on. As of now, my family has good access to food not as before when getting meals was a miracle.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Upon withdrawing the money, I first bought a bed and a mattress for KES 8500.00 for my children who used to sleep on the floor. I also bought foodstuff which is a sack of maize flour and a sack of rice at KES 3300.00 and KES 2800.00 respectively. I also bought 12 iron sheets for KES 12000.00 to build an additional room in my house to make it spacious to accommodate my family. I did this because the house I had was smaller and congested. Thereafter, my husband and I agreed to take a motorbike on hire purchase and we paid a deposit of KES 25000.00. This motorbike was to serve as an income-generating activity since it was to be used in light transport.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
As a family we are going very hard moments, my husband works sells livestock during market days, which he trades with goats but offlate business is no t booming. I'm always at home idling and i feel i need to get some income activity that will support my husband to bring food to the table.
Upon receiving the first transfer we plan to set up a small grocery, where we will be selling dried fish, and vegetables.
Our neighbours travel almost an hour to do small shopping so we feel we might have helped the situation and also give our selves profit.
This will cost us around 30,000 ksh, and the remaining balance we will use it to buy bed and mattress for our two sons who are currently sleeping on hard surface with us.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My husband bought cows and traded it with goats, and got a profit of almost nine thousand kenyan shillings.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
We living in hard economic times, it has not rained for over a year and we have not been able to do farming. So getting daily meals has been a very big challange.
We are forced to take one meal a day or even most days we sleep hungry while we prepare porridge for our children.
We also lack a good reliable source of income, because livestock business is no longer doing well, so we are forced to survive with the small savings we get from our family.
