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?
I was coming from the grocery when I saw the airtel money message and I was so excited because all my hopes were answered and I knew that my plans would workout
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Now I have an east mode of transport it is easier to go to the hospital now; before receiving this money we used to travel by foot. We also used to buy food in small quantities because we could not afford it but now we bought in bulk.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
The first thing that I purchased was my bicycle because transportion is hard here. Then I went on to buy food, iron sheets and mattress. I also bought livestock as a sustenance plan, to sell whenever the need rises
Enrolled
access_time over 1 year ago
What do you plan to do with the cash transfer?
Receiving this money means that we will be able to build a house for ourselves. As you can see this one we are living in is not comfortable for us so we plan on building a better one and live with comfort that we've always wanted. All things considered, we feel like this would cost us about 200$. We plan on starting this project a month after receiving the first transfer. Then we plan buying foos that would sustain us for a year, that's the whole of 2023 in this case. 20 bags of maize would be sufficient for the 3 of us.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I remember last month, I don't recall the exact date but my husband here, Mafukeni, got a piecework with some company where they applied fertilizer in a maize field and he got paid 4$ which we used to buy beef meat for food. This brought me and my family joy.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Currently the only challenge is lack of food. From our previous harvest we only got 2 bags of maize and this was way back in April. We finished these bags last month and now we rely on casual labour to buy maize for food. Unfortunately, it is hard for us to find these pieceworks nowadays here in our area.
