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.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. I had been promised to receive the money sometimes that month but it really did not sink that I was going to receive a sum of KES 55000. I felt happy that all the plans that I had were going to be actualized and that my life was going to change for the better.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The thought of having our house improved really makes me happy. I can't wait to have our house complete and be able to relax and the argony of having to rebuild its walls will be a thing of the past. This to me is going to be the greatest difference and I can't thank GiveDirectly enough.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used just a small proportion of the money that I received to buy food for the family. I saved a bigger proportion of KES 53000 in preparation to improve my house from a mud walled to that of a timber wall. I am waiting to receive the second transfer and then I am good to go with my plans of improving our house. I chose to improve our house since we have been left alone in the house with my husband and I can hardly do any hard jobs nowadays. The timber walled house with a cemented floor will be easier for me to maintain.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am happy that GiveDirectly came to our village and told us about this program. I am old and I cannot do strenuous jobs like farming all day or even going far from home to look for jobs. I sell maize at Kabisimba centre since this is less strenuous and use the money that I get to feed my husband and I. Receiving this money will mean that I will be able to continue with my business. I will use some amount, KES 15,000 to add more bags of maize and buy a cow with KES 40,000 so that I can also sell the milk that I get from it
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the morning. Old age comes with a lot of health problems and so waking up to a beautiful day healthy and strong is what makes me feel very happy and grateful.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Changing times changes everything. I have a large family which is made up of men. They have married and so as per our culture, we have subdivided our land amongst them leaving us with little land for farming. The inability to do large scale farming like before has led to us getting little income that is not sufficient for our home use. This has been the biggest hardship that I have faced in life.
