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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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($442 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?
I do not have any new goal for now that I can talk of and am so grateful for the ones that I was able to achieve which include owning goats. I am positive that once the goats increase in number, I will be in a good position to pay fees for my children timely and cater to all basic household needs. Since I rely on the charcoal business, it has not been that profitable and most of the time, I was even unable to bring food to the table.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, GiveDirectly does so well in the entire region because they offered us unconditional cash transfers. This has enabled us to build good houses, also our children are now studying without any difficulties like before. Therefore, I do not see any sector in that GiveDirectly failed us.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent part of my second transfer on paying fees for my two children who are in grade in the nearby primary school. They have been forced to stay at home because of the arrears. This has therefore been affecting their performance and my main concern is that they might get demoralized and drop out of school. I am now so glad because GiveDirectly came at the right time and rescued us. Apart from that, I bought four goats that I am currently keeping in my compound. I have been yearning to have them for a long since they are considered to be long-term investments but I could not afford to purchase any at my cost. I am now hopeful that I will have many of them within a short period which will empower me to achieve most of my goals. With the remaining amount of money, I bought food for my six family members.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($474 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
Being a subsistence farmer, I was on my farm weeding my crops with other members of my family. It was around 7 am when I received two consecutive message notifications on my phone. It was very rare for me to receive a message at that time. I called my younger child to clarify them and he informed me that I had received the transfer. I left all that I was doing and went home to inform my husband about the transfer. We were very happy that will be able to accomplish most of our plans. We prepared ourselves went to withdraw it because we already had plans in place awaiting the transfer to execute them.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that I was able to boost my livestock rearing after acquiring additional 5 high breed galla goats with my transfer. This will serve as my future investment for my family as well as for my kid's education.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent my recent transfer to boost my livestock rearing by purchasing 5 more goats for KES 30700. This is because I had wished to improve my livestock farming so that it may be more sustainable. Formerly, I sold most of my animals to feed and take my kids to school. I will be able to sell them whenever I face any challenge in the future once they multiply. In addition, I spent KES 5000 to support the education of my 5 children who are still in primary school. With the remaining amount, I bought sufficient food for my family of 12 members since I did not have any food in the store.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am blessed with 9 children who school at Jira primary, and 3 of them are at level 6 which are supposed to join lower secondary, late this year. and I say it's both a blessing and also a challenge, because education is very expensive and I it's my dream to see all kids get quality education and excel in life.
I do charcoal burning business, while my husband transports them to sell in Mombasa, that's what is supporting us to provide the basic needs in the family.
Upon receiving the first transfer of KSH 55,000 we plan to pay school fees for the children joining junior secondary, teachers advised that we would need to rent out some house where they will be staying the entire period and to do good shopping for them.
We need like 60000 KSH, so for a start the first transfer will boost us a big time.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Last year was a hard year for all of us, terrible sun and very windy, so suddenly we woke up to rains in December when it poured heavily that was my greatest thing that I celebrated.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
We are living in drought period, our animals don't have pasture and I remember the last lost 18 cows worth 180,000 KSH.
Nothing has changed, I tried planting maize almost 1 acre and it has all dried up, this situations makes me feel hopeless.i had taken a loan to prepare the land and buy all farming inputs little did I know It would all be futile.
Now we don't have any source of livelihood, am left with a debt that I feel wasn't worth it, no food for our children and sometimes as a family we are forced to eat once a day or sleep hungry and wake up hopeful that tomorrow will be a great day.
