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 in the evening and I was at my neighbor's house chatting with her when I decided to go back home after failing to get a loan from her. On my way, my mind was clouded with thoughts of going to bed on an empty stomach since we had nothing to eat after failing to get some work to do. Upon arriving, my heart was filled with joy when I saw the Mpesa message that I had received. I immediately hurried to the nearest Mpesa shop, withdrew KES 1000, and bought some foodstuffs. I whisphered a word of prayer to God countless times on that evening for having restored my hope.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
My life has never remained the same again ever since I received the transfer from GiveDirectly. This is because my children are always happy and they have never stopped saying good things about GiveDirectly. As a family, we were able to achieve our goals and this would not have been possible had we not received the transfer. My heart is always filled with joy when I see my children dressed in decent clothes enjoying their meals knowing that at the end of the day, they will have a place to sleep comfortably.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We used to live in Mau and we were evicted in the year 2017 with a claim that we had settled in a forest area. We had to go back home and life was not easy at all. We had to live in a one-room house and our four children had to seek shelter at our neighbor's house since we cannot sleep with them in the same room. Life had become unbearable for us and feeding was a challenge since we depend on doing menial jobs around the neighborhood. GiveDirectly restored our hopes in life and I am grateful to them since we were able to achieve some of our goals using the transfer. From the transfer, I spent KES 15000 on both home clothes and school uniforms for my children, and KES 2000 on four blankets since the ones that my children were using were old and not enough. In addition, I spent KES 4000 on utensils since the ones I had was few and I had to borrow them from my neighbor whenever I had visitors. Aside from this, I spent KES 11200 on a sack of maize, 20 kg of beans, and other foodstuffs to last us for some time. Using the remaining KES 22000, I built a house for my children so that they would start sleeping at home.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am a small-scale dairy farmer with 0.4 acres of land. My dream has been to be a renowned dairy farmer supplying milk to a nearby cooling plant. However, this has been impossible because of the limited animal feeds for my three dairy cows. The grazing land for my stock is 0.1 acres and this is too small for them to graze well. Receiving this money means ownership of an additional 0.2 acres of land where I will be able to plant grass and hence sufficient feeds for my herd of cattle.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The availability of laundry jobs in the neighborhood has brought joy into my life.I am a casual laborer and in the past month, I was lucky to secure a laundry job that paid me KES 200 per day. This has enabled my family to have access to enough food in the past month and this makes me happy.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food shortage is the biggest challenge we are currently facing.We own a 0.4 acre land where we practice both crop and animal production.The productivity of this land has been deteriorating year in and year out due to diseases and drought effects.As a result we have greatly depended on purchased foods which exceed our daily income of KES 200. There are three instances last month that my family skipped lunch due to the lack of money and this really annoyed me as a mother.
