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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.
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Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Ambrose's Profile
Ambrose's family
Ambrose
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
House construction
faceAge:
24
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($493 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?
We are enjoying a more satisfying lifestyle after receiving the transfer. This is because we have attained some of our dreams, specifically, owning a cow and improving our better kitchen. Currently, we have milk for consumption and sale of some surpluses to fetch income for funding other needs and demands. Also, we have a decent kitchen, something that improved our self-esteem. Besides, we have relatively enough quality apparel unlike before.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by keeping each of its promises. This depicts the organization as an exceptionally good one, something that makes many people to buy into its programs. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly is not doing well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I utilized 340 USD of my second transfer on purchasing a cow for rearing to provide us with milk for consumption and sale of any surpluses. This is because we have been spending at least 0.3 USD daily on purchasing milk for consumption by my family. Having a dairy cow is an invaluable investment in my area. Also, I improved our kitchen using 150 USD by installing an iron-sheet roof to replace the initially grass-thatched one. I did that to ensure we have a more decent kitchen. Further, we bought some clothes for each family member using the remaining amount (about 40 USD). We bought the clothing because the ones we had were relatively insufficient and torn.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($494 USD)
access_time over 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
There were rumors in our area that the transfer from GiveDirectly was about to be sent to us. People kept on hoping that they were going to receive the money anytime. I hence decided all the older messages on my phone the previous night. I wanted to create some space on my phone to allow other new messages to come in. However, my phone went off at night. I charged it in the morning when I woke up and to my surprise, I saw the SMS on my phone indicating that I had received the lump-sum amount from GiveDirectly just as promised. I was extremely excited and I immediately informed my family of the good news. They were so happy to hear, we celebrated together and gave a lot of thanks to God and GiveDirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The money from GiveDirectly is going to bring a big difference in our lives. Having bought the cow, I will thus no longer have to buy milk. We will have enough milk for our consumption and that for sale. The money from the sale of milk will help us in buying other things such as food. The barbed wire that we bought is going to enable us to fence our land and hence the cow will not move to other people’s lands. This will thus help me in avoiding any disagreements between me and the neighbors. The money from the group contribution will help us with other things since we are going to save it up after buying the cow with the transfer.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
This transfer from GiveDirectly has helped me in various ways. I bought a cow with part of it and a barbed wire. I also bought some clothes for ourselves and that for our children. We have been buying milk for quite some time and hence it has always been our desire to have our cow because it will bring a lot of benefit to us. This has though been quite hard for us to achieve due to lack of such a large sum of money. The small amounts of money that we have been getting have mostly been going to buying food, milk, and payment of d-light solar that I had taken on hire purchase. These whole expenses usually make a total of about 2000/= per week. My wife and I are in small self-help groups. It was going to be our turn to receive the group contribution and we had planned that we were going to use the money in buying a cow. However, there was a change of plans when we received the transfer from GiveDirectly. We decided to use the transfer on buying the cow and hence the amount from the group contribution will help us in other things. Thank you GiveDirectly for enabling us to achieve our dreams.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
We have been going through tough economic times recently. Since I am engaged in house construction, I have been unable to get any job to do because we are going through hard time due to corona virus pandemic. My intention therefore, is to buy a dairy cow of approximately Kenya shillings 40,000. We will use the milk domestically and sell the surplus and thus becoming source of income. Therefore, receiving this money mean a sign of financial freedom to me and my family.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Since I am engaged in house construction work which has become hard to come by, the happiest part of my day is in the evening. This is because I use most of my day by looking for any job to do in the nearby village and when I get one, I spend the whole day working there. I normally earn a wage of approximately Kenya shillings 700 a day depending on the nature of the job. Going back home in the evening with some money is the joy of my life knowing that I have fulfilled my duty as a parent.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship we have faced in life is prolonged period of drought. Owing to this, we have been unable to harvest much from our farms forcing us to look for an alternative source of income. I am therefore planning to buy a dairy cow to help supplement from what I get in my house construction job which has become hard to come by.