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.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
Honestly, GiveDirectly is a good NGO that greatly offers help to the neediest members of the community. The unconditional cash transfer model used gives room for each of us to decide on what to spend it on. This has a great impact on our lives. However, for us, the recipients to see much impact of the transfer, GiveDirectly should consider increasing the amount of money it issues out to us, as its recipients.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
The previous season never yielded any harvest for us due to prolonged dry spells. As a result, it has been very hard for us to obtain food due to the continuous rise in food prices. Although I have not yet spent my transfer, I am planning to use it to buy 1 bale of maize flour. The other portion will help me in obtaining food for the subsequent days. At the moment, there is a lot of famine and casual jobs are also rare hence life is generally hard and unbearable. As a result of this, I only depend on making charcoal for sale to earn some little income for my household's daily upkeep.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
3050 KES ($26 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
attach_money
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was 9am and I was out to find food and water for my livestock.Normally I find it best to have animals grazing around my neighbourhood on my watch from a distance,I received the message and out of excitement I left the livestock and rushed to my shamba to find my wife who was also overly excited about her message as well.We were all filled with happiness as we all agreed on how to spend the cash.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
My main objective has been educating my two children who are still in primary school.The biggest difference in my daily life is that ever since I started receiving transfers from GiveDirectly,I will be able to use the funds to educate my children and am planning to help my wife improve our roof before the rainy season.I am also planning to buy a cow which can be used for ploughing in future and am sure it will be quite an investment for a farmer like me.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Food has been our major challenge in my home especially when I have always been dependent on farming.I was forced to work as a charcoal burner which makes only KES 700 in a week now that the drought was part of us .On receiving my cash transfer I discussed with my wife who had received her share and we all agreed on how each one of us would spent the cash.I spent my cash of KES 3000 to buy enough food which would last my family of eight members the next ten days.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
When I get this money I will first pay school fees for my two daughters who are still in primary school. They normally pay 1500 KES per academic term each. My main source of livelihood here in the village is charcoal burning and selling. This earns me a profit of 500 KES per bag and I can averagely produce two bags a week. In most cases I still end up with a lot of school fees areas. It's never enough to afford basic needs for my family and still pay school fees for the two effectively.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The last six months was mostly draught season and I lost all my cattle; a bull and three cows. I can't pin point a happy moment with all that. But I now have hopes again of restoring my herd should I qualify to benefit from this GiveDirectly project. I feel happy that I'm going to get a source of income for some time. This will help me accomplish a number of things.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I do not have a reliable source of income and this is where all my problems stem from. I still have to depend on charcoal production and selling alongside subsistence farming. This is not so viable all the time because there are no forests here. It's hard to get enough tree logs for effective production. Most of the time we just use the available shrubs giving us low production hence low income. Lack of trees also slows down my speed to an extent that I can only get two bags a week.
