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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($494 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My life is different than how it would have been had I never received the transfer because I no longer buy milk daily like before. This has resulted to a decrease in my daily expenditure and I also earn an income through milk sales and as a result, I am able to use this money to cater for our basic needs.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well by giving out unconditional cash transfer fairly to every family and I do not see anything that they do not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When I received my transfer, I spent KES 35000 to purchase a dairy cow. We settled on this as a family so that we will be able to reduce our daily expenditure. Buying milk has been our daily routine and it is costly and I am now glad since this will cease being the case very soon.On the remaining amount, we built a granary. With this, we will be practicing proper and hygienic storage of our farm produce. Also, it will reduce congestion in our house especially during the harvest season as we have been using our bedroom to store our farm produce.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($494 USD)
access_time over 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was six in the morning and I was in a public vehicle when I heard the SMS notification on my phone. I checked my phone and I could not believe my eyes when I saw that I had received the promised amount from GiveDirectly. I was making my way back home because I had just finished my final exams at university. I was extremely happy that I could not wait to reach home and inform my husband of the good news. I called him immediately and he was happy too to hear the good news. We said thanks to GiveDirectly for what they had done to us. When I got home, the celebration continued and we sat down to plan on how we were going to spend the fortune.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has enabled us to get the things that we did not have and we were in dire need of them. This has thus brought a great difference in our lives. Having built the store, we now have a place to store things such as farm tools. The Friesian cow that we bought has enabled us to get milk. It produces four litres of milk, we use two litres for our consumption and the other two litres we are selling it to someone who will pay at the end of the month. The money that we will get from the sales will help us with other things such as paying school fees for our children. We hence no longer have to buy milk. Thank you GiveDirectly for enabling us to achieve this.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
The money from GiveDirectly has helped us a lot. We were able to buy a Friesian cow and we built a store with the rest of the transfer. We decided to settle on the two things because these are the things that we have been lacking and we were in dire need of them. We did not have a cow of our own and we have been buying milk for quite a long time now. We also do not have a store and yet we have planted a lot of maize on the farm this time around. We thus saw it wise to construct one that we can use in storing the maize when it ripens and also stores farm tools. We have always had the desire to do the above things but due to lack of such a large sum of money, we were not able to. Most of the money that we have been getting has been going to the payment of my university fee.
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am a continuing student at Egerton University pursuing a degree course in Education. My dream has always been to be a teacher, and receiving this money will enable me to complete my studies and also clear the outstanding arrears of 70000 shillings. There was also a time students went on a rampage and damaged school property, each student was fined a damage fee of 17000 shillings, which I am yet to pay. My school life has been full of challenges as far as matters of raising school fees are concerned. I have had to defer studies frequently because of not being able to raise the required fees. Getting support from GiveDirectly will be a sigh of relief to me and my husband.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I always find happiness in the morning than any other time of the day. When the sun shoots its orange rays over the horizon, I get so much hope that one day our challenges will be a thing of the past.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Balancing between my family and school life has been one of the greatest challenges I have endured in my life. I am a mother of two and giving my children the best has been my number one priority. To be certain that they are okay, I always take them with me to school together with a nanny. Paying this nanny has not been a walk in the park. I spend a total of 3000 shillings each month for the same. Because of the change of environment, my children could fall sick every other time their medication was also a challenge since I have no medical card.
