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?
It was morning hours and we were busy with our home chores when we heard some of our neighbors celebrating and saying that they had received their transfers. I had left my phone charging since our child had consumed all the battery power playing games on it. I went and switched it on and as soon as I had done so, I got a new message. I opened it and wow! it was the SMS saying that we had also received the KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. The SMS had been sent at 6:36 am. We were so happy on seeing this piece of good news and we celebrated by giving thanks to God and GiveDirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer from GiveDirectly has brought a very big difference in our lives as a family. There are more casual jobs to do than before with most people having received the transfers. People are also paying more well for casual jobs than before. We have thus managed to make more money which we have saved. We plan to start a project of rearing improved breeds of chicken with the saved amount. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for transforming our lives.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 30000 of our recent transfer on buying two calves. We bought one at KES 17000 and the other at KES 13000. We decided to buy them because we didn't have cows of our own. We hence usually incur the cost of buying milk. Sometimes the children become late going to school because we have to go out in the morning to buy milk which is not usually easily available. With the calves, we will be able to have milk for our consumption and we will no longer have to incur the cost of buying some. It has always been our wish to have a cow of our own but due to a lack of money, we were not able to buy one. My wife and I usually depend on casual work to earn a living. The money that we get paid is little and is only enough to meet the basic household needs, that is, to buy food and milk. When there is food, we save the money and we use it to pay school fees for our children. Other than that, we spent some of the money on farming where we rented land at KES 2500, tilled it at KES 1500 and we bought seeds and planted them. We also spent KES 4500 on clearing the school fees arrears for our child and we saved KES 8000 that we plan to use in paying school fees for the next academic term. With the remaining transfer amount, we bought food with it.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means better living standards for my family of three. I live in an incomplete house because I lacked enough money to finish building it. It is very cold at night and my son gets flu often which makes us incur extra costs on medication. I plan on using KES 30,000 to purchase building materials and KES 10,000 on labor costs. The rest of the money will go into starting up a small business for my wife . I am joyful because we will live comfortably after receiving the transfers.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Five months ago I moved into this house after taking up a loan to buy land. Previously I used to rent a house in the nearest town at KES 1000 every month. I am happy because I have my piece of land and I no longer incur expenses on rent.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I am currently facing food insecurity in my home. I have not worked for the past week because the masonry job I depend on is seasonal. My wife is sickly thus stays at home and depends on me fully for all the basic needs. We are forced to have one proper meal in a day from two meals when I do not get the money to buy food.
