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 ($435 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?
Since my wife is able to provide some basic needs with the income she earns from the salon, I'm looking forward to saving my daily wage so that I will be able to start poultry farming in the near future. This will mean that, when I secure a job in future, I will be able to spend my salary on meaningful family projects and I will be financially independent.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
What GiveDirectly does well is uplifting the less fortunate in the society by giving unconditional cash transfers, the recipients knows and are able to determine which projects can change their lives and invest on it. This was, they have changed the society in so many ways in terms of development they could never imagine .
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Before we were enrolled in the program, both my wife and I were schooling but I had to defer my studies due to lack of school fees. I started working as a casual in any sector that I could find work to be able to provided to her and our child. I had started losing hopes of completing my final semester because I could only raise $3 per day which was only enough for basic needs. When I received my first transfers, I was able to pay school fees and go back to school. With my second transfers I was able to settle both my wife's and my fees balance balance worth $350. I spend the balance to open a local salon for my wife who was studying hair dressing and I'm glad that she's able to bring something on the table at the end of the day and I was able to complete my studies.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($471 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was 8:10 am and I was at home still sleeping when suddenly I heard my phone ringing hence jolting me from my sleep. I wondered what the SMS was all about and hence I reached out for my phone to check it. I was surprised when I opened the SMS and I read that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account from GiveDirectly. I was so happy and I immediately informed my wife of the good news. She was so delighted and we thanked God for the blessing. I now believed that the promise that GiveDirectly had made to us was true, I thought that they were just pranking us.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference in our lives as a family. This is because we managed to achieve our goals of undertaking the training. My wife has been able to go back to college to finish her hairdressing course. She has a plan to open her salon when she finishes the training and be self-employed. I also managed to enroll in driving and hence I will be able to have an extra skill when I will get employed. We are thus happy and grateful because we never thought we will be able to achieve the above soon due to lack of money.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent most of our recent transfer on paying for training to undertake some courses. My wife had trained in hairdressing but unfortunately, she had not managed to complete doing the course since she had lacked money for paying for her school fees. She had thus resorted to dropping out and she got casually employed as a hairdresser at a local saloon. On the other end, I had done a course on engineering and I wanted to go train in a driving school so that I could gain the skill of driving. We thus spent KES 20000 on paying for my wife's school fees and she went back to finish her course. I also spent KES 16000 on paying for enrollment and driving lessons. It has always been our wish to undertake the courses but unfortunately, we didn't have the money. I have not yet been employed and hence I usually go to seek casual work at a construction site to get money for sustaining my family. When I am not lucky to get something at the end of the day, my wife provides for us with what she gets paid at the saloon. Other than the above, we also spent a total of KES 1650 on buying maize and bean seeds for planting. We also managed to buy more chickens for rearing. We had a few and we decided to buy more since the chickens have been of great help to us in buying the small essential household items. With the remaining transfer amount, we spent it on buying food and household items such as sugar, soap, etc.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
We are a young family of three. In terms of family developments, we are still struggling to build up and be stable. We rely mainly on casual jobs as a source of income. My wife is a trained hairdresser but she has not been able to secure a job or open a business. With this money, we plan to invest KES 50,000 to open and equip and beauty shop and saloon. This will supplement our income. For the rest of the amount, we plan to construct a new house, buy foodstuffs, and furniture as our family is still growing.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Favorable weather conditions for the last 5 months have brought happiness to my life. I planted an acre of land and harvested 17 bags of maize. This has brought happiness to my family since usually harvest 2 bags in the same piece of land. With the 17 bags, I have enough food for the family and surplus to sell.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The main challenge we are currently facing is insufficient finances. We are both casual laborers. These casual jobs are unreliable and seasonal. For the times that we do not get these jobs, we strain a lot to meet basic family needs like food. When you are lucky enough to get the job you come home with KES 200 which is not enough to sustain the family.
