GDLive Newsfeed
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.
Stages:
 
Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Lily's Profile
Lily's family
Lily
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Small business
faceAge:
38
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($455 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My new goal is to expand my business by investing more money in it. I have a tailoring shop and I would like it to grow so that I can get more income that will enable me to meet the needs of my family comfortably. Our other goal is to get money for paying school fees for our three children. Other than the tailoring shop, my husband is a small-scale farmer and he usually grows some crops and he sells them to get some income. We have thus been helping each other to raise money for school fees and it has not been easy.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly did well because they changed our lives for the better. Their staff taught us and we got to learn more about the program and how to spend the transfers wisely. They were also not biased since they enrolled everyone who was meeting the criteria. I do not see anything that they need to change and hence I would like to urge them to keep up the good work.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 23000 of our recent transfer on buying a 3000-liter water tank. We decided to buy the tank so that we can collect clean rainwater for our household use. The water that we usually go to fetch from the river which is quite far is not clean. People usually do their laundry there and the dirty laundry water usually finds its way back to the river. With the remaining transfer amount, we spent it on building another bigger house. The one that we have been living in is small and the space is not enough to accommodate us and the children. We have been meaning for a long time to build another house and buy the water tank, but we were not in a position to since we didn't have the money. We are thus so much grateful to GiveDirectly for coming up with this program of supporting us. We now have clean water for our household use and the house is big enough to accommodate all of us.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
We had just retired to bed as a family after having dinner. I heard m phone ring and I knew it was a message fb notification. This was rather unusual since I had never received any message that late. I checked my email the message and I was met with a pleasant surprise from gie irecky. I woke up my husband who was already asleep and shared the God news with him. He was equally very happy and we both celebrated the good news. The next morning we sat down and made plans on how we were going to spend the money to reap maximum benefit from it.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
GiveDirectly transfers helped us as a few miky a great deal.. The fact that we now have a water tank in our compound and which has already collected enough drinking water is not a mean achievement.. We no longer have to travel for long distance in search of this otherwise basic commodity. The whole family is relieved including my three children who would have to travel such long distances too. Furthermore we now live in a very warm house and everyone in the family is happier than they have ever been.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We used KES 25000 to buy a water tank. This is. Something I had always wanted us to do and bring to an end the water shortage menace that was always giving us problems. The remaining amount of KES 30000 was used to improve our timber house. The house that we had was not complete and would be very cold at night making our nights long and uncomfortable. We bought plywood and erected them on the walls and we are extremely happy as a family that the house is now warmer than ever. All these investments we could not do before because the amount of money that I made from my tailoring work and that which my husband made from his casual job would just be enough to feed the family and left us with very little or no amount at all to save.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
My ambition is to expand our business, I have a tailoring shop where I make school uniforms and repair torn clothes. My husband works as a casual labourer and has a power saw for cutting timber. We plan on buying a new power saw machine worth KES 40,000 because the one my husband uses is faulty and he sometimes rents from friends to have work done when he's called in by clients. With the new power saw machine we'll be able to save on the cash he uses to pay for renting. We also plan on using the rest of the cash in buying more sewing materials and expand my tailoring business.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My husband and I had been planning on opening a small retail shop within the village to cater for some of the needs in the village. Most people would go to the next village for sugar and other household goods but we opened our shop 5 months ago. We get a profit of KES 300 per day which has added to our household income
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest challenge we face at the moment is insufficient income. My husband's power saw business only brings in income on occasion and when it's not school going days I don't have customers. This has led us to delay on paying school fees for our 3 children for this school term.