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Completed
Newsfeed > Mercy's Profile
Mercy's family
Mercy
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Small business
faceAge:
27
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($457 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
check
 
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My new goal is to be able to raise enough money that would see us pay school fees for my children and offer them an opportunity to pursue their studies free from interuption. The goal is to see them have the best in terms of education and have a brighter future ahead of them. My first born is currently in standard five, second born in standard 3, third born in grade one. We are still enjoying the free primary education offered by government and we are taking advantage of this to make sure that we raise enough cash in readiness to pay their secondary school fees when that time comes. It is for this reason that we are building rental houses that will make it easy for us to obtain money and lay their school fees then. We are almost done with the construction of the first three rental houses and we hope to do more.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion GiveDirectly did very well by giving us some form of education before we received the money. This was a great eye opener to all of us in terms of what we could do with the money. It shaped how we made decisions on how best the money was going to benefit us. I am personally very grateful to have received the transfer from GiveDirectly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used almost KES 20000 to buy goats for keeping and as a savings plan towards construction of rental houses which was a major project that we had. I also used KES 3000 to buy food for my family and another KES 7000 to buy clothes for my family. The amount that remained from the second transfer was used to buy other building materials. The goats that I bought was a savings investment towards the construction of the rental houses. I am happy that I finally sold the goats and the houses that we were building are almost complete. I am so happy to have been a beneficiary of this great program since my life has been transferred a great deal. I normally rely on small business of selling firewood while my husband too relies on poultry business to enable us make ends meet. Our four children have a hope of pursuing their education successfully without any hindrance whatsoever. This is definitely something to make us happy as a family since it has always been my dream to give the best in terms of education to my children.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
attach_money
 
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was very happy and thankful when I received a message from GiveDirectly that confirmed the receipt of my first transfer. I was with my family taking dinner when I received the information. We all thanked God, and my husband had to withdraw all the amount the next day even though we could not spend it immediately since we needed a cow that we could not find at that moment.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The huge investment in livestock has so far brought a great impact on the provision of enough milk for my household. This so far is the biggest difference in my daily life since I am no longer spending a coin to buy milk but instead selling the surplus at times. This investment has given me hope and the ability to provide for my children in the future.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
After an agreement with my household, we finally settled on spending a huge part of the first transfer on livestock as this has been the main source of livelihood in our village. The cost of buying milk had been straining us a lot especially now that we had been paying school fees for our three school-going children. This project is also coming in as preparation to meet the address the financial obligations as my children climb up their education ladder to their junior secondary school. I spent KES 30000 on a dairy cow that has been providing at least two liters a day since I brought it in, I also bought four goats at KES 17000, clothing for every household member at KES 5000, and used the remaining on foodstuff.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I plan on purchasing a dairy cow worth KES 40,000, I currently have one cow but it's not productive. I have 4 children and I wish to ensure every morning the have a good breakfast with milk. I will also sell some of the milk at the nearby center to make an extra income for house.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Even though there is drought I have been able to harvest 2 sacks of beans. Last year I wasn't able to harvest because we did not have money to plant the beans. I used the money I got from selling the beans to pay school fees last term for my children.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
We are currently facing food security, there is drought and we depend on our farm produce of maize and beans. My husband sells chicken but lately there is no market and he barely makes an income from the business.