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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.
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Newsfeed > Maureen's Profile
Maureen's family
Maureen
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Subsistence farming
faceAge:
32
workCampaign
UBI
Upcoming Stage
Next Payment
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Follow to be updated on Maureen's next check-in.
 
26th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($21 USD)
access_time 4 years ago
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Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goal for the next four months is to save money in the merry go round group that we have started in our village to pay school fees for my children in various schools.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I was able to save the money in the merry go round group that we have started in our village. When it was my turn to be given the money I found that as an opportunity to buy a piece of land to do a horticulture farming. I borrowed a loan from Kenya Women Finance Trust and combined with the savings from merry go round and I was able to buy a piece of land. I am a farmer and I do horticulture farming. Before I used to farm on a small piece of land and the produce was so small and could not last us until the next season. It was so costly to buy food for the family throughout the season. Currently, I have enough food for the family, I no longer spent a lot of money on buying food. I sell the surplus produce at the market to earn an income to buy other household needs and to pay school fees for my children.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months in that I would have saved money to build a spacious and a better house for my family. I have a small house now which could not host all of us comfortably.
 
24th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 4 years ago
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Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My additional goal in life is to build a permanent house for my family. I will first start with the buying of all the necessary materials before starting the construction work. I will use both my savings and the profits from my business to achieve this.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am now a proud owner of a piece of land. I was able to buy this land late last year using the savings that I was given in our merry go round group after topping up some amount. I have already planted some maize on this farm hence my produce this year will increase. Due to this, I am certain that my family will have enough maize for consumption that will last us till the next harvesting season.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
My life will have changed in the next six months in that I will have bought most of the building materials. I am hoping that I will have bought enough bricks, sand, iron sheets. Having all this in my compound will make me know that my dream of building a permanent house for my family would soon be realized. I am currently living in a small mud house and I would wish to upgrade into a more spacious and permanent one that can accommodate us comfortably.
 
20th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time over 4 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
Playing my role in my family had not been easy since I depended majorly on subsistence farming. I had to work extra hard to meet daily basic needs among others. Since I have a future to take care of, I had to expand my investments. I joined a merry go round as a saving plan to start with and raising the agreed amount was challenging but I had to struggle to realize my goal. My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that I have been able to pay this contribution without much struggle. I use money from my farming to cater to my family needs and use my transfer to contribute to my merry-go-round group. I am happy that I can support my family as I save some for my future and this has made my life better.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
In the next four months, my additional goal in life is to increase the acreage of land under cabbage cultivation. I prefer this since it takes a shorter time before it gets to its maturity.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
I have been a farmer for the entire past of my life. I do farming since I have a piece of land and having no formal employment means that I will be there for manpower. I did farming majorly for household consumption thus practiced old farming methods and lack of enough resources couldn't allow mechanization. The biggest difference in my daily life is the mechanized farming I currently practice. I have employed machines during land preparation, use of hybrid seeds, artificial manure and modern ways of pest control. I see this as the biggest difference since I have been able to turn my subsistence farming into a business. I currently have better yields that have been able to cater fo my household consumption and remain with surpluses to sell. I am happy that I have started earning an extra income from farming unlike before.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, my life will have changed in that I will have increased the acreage of land under farming. I expect to be doing better by adopting better farming practices thus will be in a position to have a higher income.
 
16th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time almost 5 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
Currently, I do have enough water harvested and stored in my newly acquired water tank. I no longer get tired going to look for water which is normally very far with a horrible terrain. I used to have backaches as a result of carrying heavy jerrycan for a long time. The water tank is big enough to store water until the next season. I feel relieved and happier because my biggest problem is now fully solved
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
I do not have a new goal for the next four months. I am still planning to save through the merry go round so that I would help other members to achieve their dreams as I did. I realized when we pull efforts together, life becomes easier. The greatest joy is usually seeing someone achieve their goals because you helped them. I also thank Give Directly because without them this group would not exist in the first place
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my life ever since I started receiving transfers from Give Directly is that I was able to save a good amount of money through Merry-go-round and we bought a water tank. Water has always been a big problem in our area. The water points are usually very far. It's usually a very tedious exercise that consumes a lot of time. I really feel proud of my self to have thought of buying the water tank. Now I got enough water for domestic use.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
The biggest difference Give Directly brought to my life is by enabling me to buy the water tank. The time which I would have wasted travelling to the fetch water I would spend to do other meaningful tasks. I can now focus on doing several farm activities which would help me achieve my other goals.
 
12th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 5 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago that In that I have been able to join village savings group and developed a saving culture which was not possible before due to no source of income. I have also developed all my time on my farm unlike before where IU could spend all my time working on someone's farm and get a small pay to buy food for the family. My children also have enough food due to the harvest that we had in some few months ago unlike before where they could not get enough.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goals for my life for the next four months is to build a spacious and a better house for my family. Because currently, we are living in a small mud house which cannot host all my family members comfortably. My children usually sleep in my neighbor's house and this is very risky because of the movement during the night hour. They are not also able to complete their assignment and this has led to poor performance in school.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I have been saving some amount of money in the merry go round group that we started in our village. I used the savings from the group to buy a piece of land, this could not have been possible because I do not have a continuous source of income. This is a big investment in me because I always wanted a piece of land for horticulture farming. Right now I do farm vegetables and beans on that farm. This project will enable me to cut the cost of buying vegetables and even maize. I will also be able to sell the surplus to pay school fees for my children in school. Getting school fees was a big challenge because I did not have a source of income. I used to do hard jobs and the little amount of money I could get I could use to buy food for my family. I'm so grateful this project will reduce the hard jobs that I usually do and I will devote all my time on my own farm for better production.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months in that will have completed building the house and my family will have a nice house to live. my children also will not go to the neighbor's house to sleep and that they will have enough time to do their assignment on time and improve their performance in school.
 
5th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time almost 6 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life currently is different since I have been able to plant some vegetable seeds.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
The new goal which I now have is to buy a farm.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life happiness.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in that my farming practices will have improved and I will no longer be lacking anything I need.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 6 years ago
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The recipient was not asked any questions as part of this follow up.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 6 years ago
 
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Last year I bought an acre land in Kapolawa village and I went through a hard time to acquire it. This is the biggest hardship I've faced in my life because it took me about two years to save up to this achievement. It was hard raising the money alone to meet a requirement of Kshs 500,000 considering I still had to pay school fees for my five children in primary school.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the evening because this is the time I relax after fulfilling the day's plans. This is also the time I spend to bond with my husband and children.
What are you planning to spend your transfer on?
Since I am a short term crops farmer, I am planning to spend my monthly transfer on cabbage farming. This money will cater for fertilizer, seedlings and pesticides to keep my crops healthy.
What is the achievement you are proudest of?
The achievement I am most proud of is having to purchase a land of my own. I saved up the little I could get from crop farming until 2017 when I bought an acre land within this village. I am proud of this achievement because it has saved me the much cost of having to hire land for farming.