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
53150 KES ($428 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My goal is to buy a sewing machine and a cow. I need a cow because it will keep my son busy when he comes home after school, he will be taking it to feed. We will also get milk from it since right now we do buy from neighbours and sometimes we lack the money to do so. About a sewing machine, I have a dream of acquiring tailoring skills so that I can be making nice clothes for people as they pay me. I'll not be fully depending on my husband for every financial need. I need $200 for a cow and $180 for the machine. I pray to God so that Give Directly can come back and add me more transfers as I do not have anywhere else to get money from.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
Give Directly does everything well. You changed my name from homeless to a home owner. I used to sleep outside but now I have a piece of land and a house. Right now my village mates respect me. My neighbours have also bought cows and built good houses. Children who had dropped out of school due to school fees arrear are now back in school courtesy of Give Directly's money. There is no where to improve, keep up with the good work and may God bless you.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I do not have a stable job, I just survive on subsistence farming, cutting trees and burning charcoal for sale. My husband was employed on 'bodaboda' business but he lost his job, although he is the bread winner of our family. I did not have my own piece of land, so I used to live in a rented space, it was so stressful because sometimes we would get stranded and lack money for rent. My 3 children were always worried because they didn't have a home of their own. We used to sleep in a roof less house , and when it rained, we would go to neighbours' houses or even outside. So I used $430 to buy a 2 acre piece of land, I then spent $100 on 19 iron sheets , construction timber and nails. Just like that and I'm now a home owner. I can't believe that right now we have a place to sleep comfortably and neighbours no longer hear me knocking at their doors at night. My 3 children who are in primary school had school fees arrears of $20 so I cleared it with the remaining amount and now my children are fully in school. Thank you so much Give Directly.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
Happiness can make someone change direction of things or make other things fail from taking place. It was around 5pm when I was busy washing my family’s 2 weeks clothes when I received a message in my phone. I wiped my hands so as to attend to the message and to my surprise, my eyes bumped into a huge figure on the message before reading it. I was curious to see the end part of the message before even going back to the starting point. My heart was filled with joy and happiness after realizing that GiveDirectly had sent me the transfer they promised. The happiness made me forget about the washing task I was doing and I remembered a bit late in the evening thus did the washing the next day in the morning.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Initially I just desired to keep some goats at my home but due to poverty I couldn’t manage fulfilling the desire of my heart. Thanks to GiveDirectly who came into my life and through them I managed to get some goats and I am planning for a bigger project that I will start once I get the second transfer.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My desire as a subsistence farmer was to rare some livestock took. When I withdrew the money my aim was to buy a good number of goats but due to the harsh climate that we were experiencing, I bought only 3 goats for KES 10500.00 and a sack of maize for KES 4500.00. Being a parent of 3 primary school children, I also paid KES 4000.00 school fees or them. Thereafter, I opted to save the rest so that I do a bigger project once I receive the second transfer.
Enrolled
access_time 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means buying two acres of land. I have a family of five children. I was born and raised in my grandmother's home. I have lived there all my life until I married my wife. However, due to our african tradition, it is a taboo to be raised and live in your grandmother's home with your wife and children. This forced me to borrow a piece of land from a good friend of mine and he gave me a small piece of land to live there temporarily. I have been living here for the last two years. However, I cannot do anything in this land because I only have access to it but have no control over it. I depend on casual jobs in construction sites to get money for my family. However, these jobs are not reliable and pay very little amount of money. I get at most 3000 KES a month which is not enough to save and meet the basic needs of my family. My ambition has been to own my own piece of land where I can cultivate and get food for my family. Upon receiving the cash transfer, I will buy two acres of land that will cost 60000 KES. I will then use the remaining amount of money to pay school fees for my children.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In the last two months my family received cash transfer of 11000 KES from Red Cross society of Kenya. This money helped my family a great deal. By then my wife was expectant and it help me cater for her maternity costs and also bought food for one month. For the first time in my life I could pay school fees for my three children in primary school for the whole term. This brought a lot of hope and joy to my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Lack of a reliable source of income is the main challenge that is facing my family. Imagine having a family of five children who needs to eat and attend school and having nothing to meet their needs. This is the scenario that I am facing currently. I depend on casual jobs that pay me less than 4000 KES a month. These jobs are not reliable because today you may get, tomorrow it is not there. This has made life more difficult for me and my family. My dream has been to own a piece of land that I would use to start livestock farming. Upon receiving the cash transfers, I will buy a piece of land and ten goats that I will keep and sell when they multiply so that I can meet the basic needs of my family. This will be a big life investment because goats survive dry weather conditions.
