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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53010 KES ($399 USD)
access_time 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
In the coming year and beyond, I would like to open a retail shop in the neighbouring village. Since I have no reliable source of income to fend for my children, this would therefore be of huge support to the entire family. Once I succeed, I will be in a position to pay fees for my children since they have been on and off from school due to arrears. Apart from that, I will no longer struggle to provide daily meals for my children.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, the organization did well by ensuring that every household was visited and fairly enrolled. Also, the idea of offering me an unconditional cash transfer stood out since I was able to choose what worked better for me. Also, this cash was nonrefundable, unlike that from the other organizations, which was the contrary. This makes GiveDirectly so unique.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent part of my recent transfer on buying iron sheets, nails, timber, and all the other necessary items to put up a new building, which cost almost $300. This was for the construction of a house for my four sons, who have been sleeping in an unpleasant environment. The house they have been sleeping in has a dilapidated roof and weak walls. As a parent, this condition has been frustrating for me for so long because it would even collapse anytime. This would cause physical harm and damage at the end of it all. I am now thankful for finally seeing them sleep in a decent environment. They now have an ample place to study, and it has also protected their privacy. To add to that, I had to purchase two goats worth $60. I settled for them purposely for my school-going children, who have been sent home regularly due to arrears. I am positive by the time they will be transitioning to high school they will have increased in number. Later on, I paid school fees for the two children, who are in grades four and eight, respectively. At least they are now in class studying comfortably without any disturbances. With the remaining amount of money, I bought food for my family, which is comprised of eight members. It is now a relief for my spouse and me since we can now save a little cash from our daily hustles because we have sufficient food.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($443 USD)
access_time 1 year ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
Words cannot express how happy I was when I saw a text message on my screen indicating that I had received money from GiveDirectly. I was still at the mine where my husband and I work. I was overwhelmed with joy and happiness I immediately turned to where my husband was anf broke the good news to him which he received with so much happiness . We grateful for the support that brought so much happiness in our lives and gave us an oppotunity for us to transform our lives.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference between my life then and now is that I was able to build a decent house for my family. I'm relieved that my children will not be going to our neighbour's house to find a safe place to sleep. We will be eternally grateful to GiveDirectly for changing our lives for the better.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Rain is a God-given blessing, but due to the state of our house, this was not the case for us. Several times during the rainy season, we were forced to relocate from our home to our neighbourhood in order to find shelter. This was humiliating, but we had no choice. As a result, when I received my transfer, I used $500 to construct a decent home for my family. This was previously not possible due to our school fee obligations. My wife and I both work at the mine, and we have seven children. Second, I spent the remaining funds on food. I am grateful for the help that has brought about so many changes in our lives that seemed impossible before.
Enrolled
access_time over 1 year ago
What do you plan to do with the cash transfer?
My current house is about six by eleven with grass thatched roof, mud walls and no closable door. I would like to improve this when I get this grant. My plan is to build an entirely new house with two rooms; one to be my bedroom and another one to be my sitting room and also serve as a guest's sleeping room. I estimate this to take $500 as material cost and labor charge. I will still stick to mud walls and but do iron sheets on the roof so that it won't leak again during rainy seasons.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My business was really booming in the month of September because we had just opened a new mine. During this time we were able to get minimum 30 tons in two to three weeks that could fetch us $240 within that period. I was really happy over that time because I could make the same amount of money as right now , but a little faster.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Prolonged droughts has made it quite hard to produce crops that we could have been depending on as subsistence farmers. This has led to most villagers resorting to charcoal burning and sell or firewood business to be able to make ends meet. Personally, I tried charcoal burning but we ran out of trees. Finally we decided to do small scale mining of manganese and selling to middle men. This earns us $ 240 monthly as a group of ten workers. We decided to team up because it's not possible to get the required 30 tons so fast working alone.
