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 ($430 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
From the little money that my husband and I make from doing some casual jobs, we intend to save up so that in the course of this year we can start our own small business selling second-hand clothes. This will come in handy to help in sorting out the daily basic needs of the family.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
I commend GiveDirectly for the job well done and the whole village is happy with the good deed. The financial assistance came a long way in ensuring that the life of all villagers was changed. We are forever grateful for everything and we will continue preaching the good work of this organization.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I have been living together with my husband and two children in a small and congested one-roomed house, which means there was no privacy and we couldn’t accommodate any visitors. We saw it wise to build a bigger house and thus we budgeted for it after receiving the second transfer. We bought all the required materials and sourced an affordable mason to do the job. This cost us $300 to put up a two-roomed house and also bought a few pieces of furniture. For $100 we were able to get a solar panel to light up the house at night. This was helpful for the children to use while doing their school assignments. I was able to replace the old, ripped mattress and bed for our children with new ones costing $100 and they can now sleep comfortably. With the remaining $30, I went to the market and bought a few foodstuffs that would last us at least a couple of weeks.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($495 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I felt so happy when I got the money it is an amount that I had never gotten or received before, so I felt so happy grateful.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference is the change I am seeing in my life. I used to live in a single room with a paraffin tin lamp, but now I have a bigger and better house with a solar panel and set of lights. I am happier now than I was before getting to be enrolled in GiveDirectly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent most of my transfer on building a bigger and better house for my family and me which cost a total of KES18000. We used to suffer before because the house we have been living in was just a single room and did not have much space for the whole family. I also paid a deposit of KES10000 for a solar panel and set of lights, which I bought on hire purchase because we used to depend on a single paraffin tin lamp which could not light the whole house and outside, it was like we used to live in darkness. But right now, I am happier and proud, we will not worry when evening and night comes.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Food security and decent housing has been our ambition for the past 2 years. Receiving this money means that these ambitions will be met. My plan is to own a big house. The current house I live in is very small considering my growing family of one child and a husband. I will use the first transfer (55,000 Kenyan shillings) to build a house that will comfortable accommodate us as a family. I will then use 30,000 Kenyan shillings of the second transfer to buy two bulls and 8,000 Kenyan shillings to buy an ox drawn plough. This will help in ploughing our 1 acre piece of land for maize production. For the past 2 and a half years, we have been ploughing the land ourselves which is very laborious.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Mornings naturally become my happiest part of the day. Waking up very healthy after a restful sleep makes me face my day with so much confidence.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My biggest hardship in life is lack of money which is brought by unemployment. Lack of money has made it impossible to build a decent and bigger house for ourselves. The current house is congested which can promote outbreak of diseases.
