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?
I was at home taking breakfast when I received a Mpesa message on my phone. It was until I read it when I realized that I had received the promised aid from GiveDirectly. My heart was overwhelmed with joy and happiness as I knew that I will be able to buy a dairy cow just the way we had planned. I then called my wife to inform her of the wonderful news that came to our way and words cannot express how happy she was and we are grateful to have received the support from GiveDirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
I am a proud owner of a dairy cow and this is the biggest difference in my daily life as I had not been able to afford it all these years due to financial constraints. Because of this, I no longer buy milk as I used to and this has enabled me to save the money that I would have spent on them. In addition, I will be able to pay my children's school fees with ease when it calves as I will be selling some of the milk and use the money to achieve this. I am so grateful that the organization allowed me to better my life by giving us unconditional cash.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Upon receiving my transfer, I spent KES 35000 to buy a dairy cow. We settled on this as a family since buying milk has been our norm and due to this, we usually end up spending KES 60 daily on them. As a casual laborer doing any available casual work in the neighborhood, this is expensive to me as I usually earn around KES 300 which is to be used in buying all the foodstuffs for my family. In addition, I spent KES 5000 to buy some timber that I am planning to use in building a more spacious iron-roofed house for my family since the one we're currently living in is old and in a bad condition, KES 8000 on clothes and KES 5000 on food to last us for some time. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for enabling me to achieve all this as I would not have been able to achieve them on my own due to my financial status.
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money would mean that I will own a good house.My ambition is to own a two roomed house with iron sheet roofing as this would help me harvest enough rain water for household consumption and also my four children will have enough safe space to sleep. I am a casual labourer and I only earn Ksh 300 per day when I get a job to do and this is not enough to cater for my family basic needs such as good food,education and clothing.Building the house would cost me a total of 30,000. I also want to buy a dairy cow of Ksh 30,000 which would produce enough milk for my children to drink everyday because milk plays a great role in their development. At the moment I purchase 1litre of milk everyday at Ksh 30 and is only enough for my 8 month old child. The rest of the money I would spend it on food and good clothing for my family.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My happiest part of the day is in the morning when I wake up healthy. I always thank God because I know I have the strength and energy to go and fend for my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship I have faced is that I hardly harvest any bag of maize when I plant. This is because I live in a semi-arid area and it does not rain consistently,also the maize are usually affected by a disease and we do not know the herbicides to be used in protecting it from the infestation.This forces me to purchase food for my family and I find it expensive as I cannot afford buying it everyday.
