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 biggest difference in your daily life.
To me, completing my house that for a long time has been in that state of incompletion due to inadequate finances is the biggest difference in my daily life. The little earning from my manual work was not enough to purchase the remaining materials for the completion of my house. It's only through the financial support from GiveDirectly that enabled me to finish building the house.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I saw the notification early in the morning as I was going through the messages in my inbox. I came across the one message from GiveDirectly that I have been anxiously waiting for. As I read through the content, I was filled with joy on realising that GiveDirectly had finally sent the first transfer into my Mpesa account.
What did you spend your first transfer on?
I was building a new house for my family, However, I could not complete its roofing since the materials were exhausted and I had no money to complete it. On receiving the transfer, I bought enough iron sheets, nails and other roofing materials and my house are now completed, courtesy to GiveDirectly. I also purchased a pair of oxen to help me in doing my farming effectively and early enough. For a long time, I have been hiring from neighbours and this has been expensive for me. I was always late and due to this, I was getting just a handful of the harvests because I was always late on cultivation. I am happy that the pair, I will do timely cultivation to get better yields for my area is semi-arid and proper timing is a must. I spent the rest of the transfer to buy enough food daily for my family and some other basic needs.
Enrolled
access_time almost 6 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I depend on subsistence farming for a living but it is not enough to sustain my family. In most cases, I harvest around 3 bags of maize which feed the family for only 2 months. The low production is due to inconsistent rainfall and lack of better farming equipment. Therefore, I will use part of this transfer to purchase oxen and an ox plough. This will enable me to till a bigger piece of land fast enough in order to catch up with the short rains. Therefore, it will mean getting more maize that will sustain us for a longer period. Besides using the oxen in my farm, I will also rent them to my neighbours to generate money for meeting other needs such as clothing. Apart from purchasing oxen, I will also use this transfer to complete my house which is under construction since the current on is very small. Lastly, I will enroll my son in a polytechnic since I was not able to take him to secondary school.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I am mostly happy in the evening when I am resting after my daily activities. This is because during the day, I undertake very heavy duties like digging and uprooting trumps to burn charcoal for a living. These manual tasks wear out my energy but I am always motivated to do them in order to make ends meets.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Not having a stable source of income is my biggest hardship. Apart from subsistence farming, I also engage in casual jobs such as burning charcoal and wood cutting. These jobs do not provide enough money to sustain my family needs especially food and education. It is due to this situation that made me unable to see my four children through secondary school. Providing food is also a big challenge and in most cases when we do not have maize, we are forced to go without food for at least three days a week.
