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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Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
354200 MWK ($345 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
The moment when I received my cash transfer I was so happy since I knew that all the plans that I have set will finally be achieved.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving these payments is that in the past I have never had a privilege of procuring bags of fertiliser due to money issues..With my transfer, I have been able to buy 2 bags of fertiliser and I will be able to apply twice in my maize field.
Lastly, I feel my kids are happy since I have been able to purchase school uniform for all them and can no longer be sent back home.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used my most recent transfer to procure 2 bags of fertiliser which I intend on using in my maize field inorder to promote growth..I spent about $120 on the bags of fertilizer that I bought.
I spent an amount of about $15 on education of my three children as I bought them school uniform, shoes as well as notebooks.
Also, I bought other agricultural materials such hoes so that it will help me in loosening the soil and for weed removal to make sure that the land is conducive for maize growth.
Lastly, I managed to buy food..I bought 1 bag of maize and I plan to but more in the coming months as I have saved some of the money.
Enrolled
access_time over 1 year ago
What do you plan to do with the cash transfer?
I plan to use this money to boost up my husband's beans buying and selling business and I also plan on venturing into my own business of buying plastic basins and cloth then selling them here in my community at a profit. I plan on choosing these businesses because they seem profitable and beneficial here in my area. For my new business I would invest 150,000 just to be safe on costs while for my husband's business we would put in about 75000 kwacha for a 60 kg bag of beans. As a household we believe if implemented strategically these businesses would help us attain an improved livelihood. The rest of the money would be directed towards the purchase of 4 bags of fertilizer this is dependent on my farmland size.
What is the happiest part of your day?
If my memory serves me right, I believe in May this year was one of the happiest moments so far. I say this because it was during the harvesting season and we were able to come up with 3 buckets of sweet potatoes, which is not a joke these days with the changes in climate, and I was so grateful since it meant that I something to cook for my 4 children for atleast 2 months. If not for sharing some of it with with my relatives maybe the potatoes would have lasted another month. Additionally, in that same month I got 1 cart of maize from my field and this also brought me joy. How could I forget, I belong to this organisation of local women here where we do farm work in peoples' fields and after they pay us we bank the money to share at a later stage. We usually share it in June but this year we have shared it in August and I got 37600 kwacha from that association. I took 17 thousand of that money and gave it to my husband to utilize for his business and used the rest for other household needs like clothes for my children, buckets and a pig. This is what has made my year glamourous so far.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
There are many challenges we are facing as a household but I believe they are all tied to 2 things, thus, money and food. Lack of finacial for my husband's business brings about distress for us. He is into buying and selling of legumes, beans, to be specific. On a month he goes with 15 or 20 thousand kwacha to order these beans from Mayani and sells them making a profit of 5500 in Salima which we feel is not enough considering all the costs incurred in terms of transportation and all other logistics involved. Lack of these funds unables us to find fertilizer to apply in our maize field and hence we come up with low yields and this brings about low food levels in our household on a yearly basis. "Now you see how I said they are intertwined?" She said while picking up her 1 year 3 months old baby from the floor.
