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.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I believe that I would have bought more chicken and that whenever we feel like having a balanced diet we would take some eggs and cook. Again, we can have some chicken meat instead of buying beef for the family.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
In the last two months, I received Merry-go-round collection from a savings plan which we started after receiving transfers from Give Directly. these collections enabled me to purchase a water tank. Now I have 25000 litters installed in my doorstep. I made this sacrifice so that I would have sufficient space to store rainwater. Now have one more extra tank means a lot to me as I use to struggle a lot during dry season fetching water from a stream which is far from my homestead.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My additional goal in the next four months is to continue saving my next transfer so that when I will receive my next collection I would spend to expand my poultry farming. I saw a great opportunity in poultry farming after I started rearing a few chickens which gives me a good profit through the sale of eggs. I am now thinking of expanding this venture buy adding more chicken so that I would rip more profit which would enable me to cater my family needs with less struggle.
24th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 4 years ago
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How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change positively in the next six months in that I shall have an established poultry keeping project that shall drive me towards being financially independent. The poultry keeping project shall open up other investment opportunities once it is established and bring about improvement in the living standards of my family as well.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
I have been able to take part in a merry go round that was initiated in our village once the transfers commenced and we have been able to do this consistently. This has seen me accumulate a sum of KES 25000 over the last four months which enabled me to buy a water tank; a dream I had always wished to achieve. This means that the worry of running out of drinking water especially during the dry season is now a thing of the past. Water harvesting has been made possible through this. With these transfers, I have also been able to hire workers in my tea plantation even when I had no money with the surety that I will be able to pay them once I received my monthly transfers. This has enabled me to increase my farm produce and raise the income for my family.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My additional goal for the next four months is to be able to improve my poultry keeping project. I currently have nine chicken for rearing and I look forward to raising it to 30 within the next four months. Poultry keeping is one of the most viable projects that has always helped me meet the cost of the basic household commodities with much ease. Improving it will earn me more income for the family and lead to an improvement in our living standards. This shall be made possible with the help of these transfers.
20th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time almost 5 years ago
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How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I will have already bought a water tank. When this goal actualizes, I believe the harvested water will last me up to the next rainy season. This will save me from walking a long distance in search of water. I will use this time to do farming and other household chores.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
I am now able to carry out farming without any worry of who will run things around my house while am away because my house help is able to take care of everything. With the transfer I usually get from GiveDirectly, I get to pay her salary with less struggle as I am guaranteed that I will be receiving the transfers every month.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goal is to buy a water tank. In my area, there has been water scarcity, especially during the dry seasons. We have always had to go miles to fetch water which is a necessity for life. In most cases, I have spent a lot of money to hire someone to fetch water. This is the reason why I would like to save part of my transfers to buy a tank to be used to store water during the rainy seasons. This will help to store water to sustain my family in the dry seasons.
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
Now, having a house help has relieved me from tedious household duties. Now I do not have to strain with and now focusing on farming in the morning and the business (shop and posho mill) which I usually run in the afternoon.
16th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
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How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I expect that my life would have changed a lot. Since I will have bought the water dispenser we will now be taking clean water. This will save us from the hustle of buying firewood to boil water since the dispenser purifies the water using a natural mechanism. We would no longer risk taking contaminated which might have lead to some health-related issue.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my life is that now I own a big poultry farm. I managed to start poultry farming with the monthly income I got from Give Directly. I used to save transfers every month because I had this project in mind. I am very proud to have thought this way because the farm is doing well. I usually sell a few chickens whenever I get a financial problem. They always come in handy in times of need.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
I plan to save my monthly income I get from Give Directly for the next four months. I intend to buy a water dispenser. We experienced drought a couple of months ago. This led to water shortage in this area and the little we would get from a nearby river wasn't clean enough. Most of the people in this village got ill as a result of drinking this water. I know the of a water dispenser that would help purify water without boiling it
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
Currently, I can plan and have hopes of achieving a particular goal. Before I would plan but fail terribly because of being unable to predict the uncertainties that would occur since I entirely depended on casual jobs for a living. The wages I got from these casual jobs were majorly used to buy food. I could not do any big project with such money. I thank God because I now have a monthly income that I can budget for and achieve some of these goals
12th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
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How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months in that I am planning to buy a dairy cow to reduce the cost of buying milk. Currently, I am buying milk and its so costly for me.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I have started a poultry keeping project. This project has enabled me to earn an income to meet additional needs for my family and even pay school fees for my children in various schools. Before I could struggle so much to get the money to meet those needs. I do not have a continuous source of income and this was a big challenge for me. I had an idea of poultry keeping but I did not have the capital to start. I am so grateful for the support, it has enabled me to venture into this wonderful business.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goals for the next four month is to build a storeroom for storing farm produce like maize, beans and wheat. In the past, It was a big challenge during the harvest time because we did not have enough space for storage.
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that I have a source of income from the sales of eggs. The poultry project that I have started is giving me an income to meet the basic needs of my family.
6th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 6 years ago
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How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I will want to have a dairy cow that is very good hence by that time i will be accumulating my money for the same project.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
I am very happy about the transfer since i can implement any plan i have because i get money monthly.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
I am planning to start a serious poultry farming and also zero graze a dairy cow.
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
I am having a happy family since we eat each day and we plan for our family.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 6 years ago
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Do you have any new goals that you didn't have before receiving the transfer?
I had never planned to do poultry farming in large scale but now that the transfers are here i can now plan big goals.
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
At-least now i can plan because i believe i will receive the transfers for the next 12 years
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I know my life will change because with the merry go round i will be able to construct a chicken house, By keeping 40 chicken ,that is added income to the profits i get from the shop, with these and many other projects coming i know my life will improve.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference now is that i now have a peace of mind, I am no longer worried about many things
Enrolled
access_time over 6 years ago
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship I am facing right now is lack of money and I also have a problem with my son who left school and its been hard convincing him to continue with school.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is at noontime. This is when I have completed most of the hard work scheduled for morning hours. I am always happy because I rest and have my lunch peacefully.
What are you planning to spend your transfer on?
I am planning to spend it join merry go round( table banking ) which I will spend it on starting zero grazing.
What is the achievement you are proudest of?
The achievement that I am proud of is when I got an opportunity to travel abroad to Israel last year September. This was through the church and my family that I managed to travel with our pastor for a 10 day vacation. I was happy because it was an opportunity of a lifetime.