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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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Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Prisilah's Profile
Prisilah's family
Prisilah
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Small business
faceAge:
55
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53010 KES ($404 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?
Depending on unpredictable salary is somewhat stressful and mind boggling as well. My PTA teaching job, for example, is unpredictable as I can stay for up to 3 months without pay because the school solely depends on parents who in turn live from hand to mouth, to pay school fees for their children. Therefore, as a family, we hope to venture extensively into cowpeas, maize and green gram farming on the onset of rains to supplement food and earn income for the family of 3. I will be excited that my family will be food secure as well as financially stable.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
I wish to thank Givedirectly for the efforts they pulled into uplifting people from poverty through the transfers. I am grateful for the transfers, I have connected water to my compound, constructed a pit latrine and bought assets. To this point, I love the way they work and I do not wish anything to change.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
For a long time, because of financial instability, I have been sleeping on a tiny mattress that often affects my back. I am excited that Givedirectly came to my rescue for I used $80 of the transfers to purchase a mattress and now I sleep comfortably. Since my family of 3 depends on farming for a living, I am saddened that the farms have been unproductive for the past season and my family did not have any harvest hence resolving to purchase food using the money my husband earns from casual jobs such as farm cultivation. My PTA teaching job, on the other hand, is unpredictable since I can stay for months without pay as the school depends on the parents who are in the same situation as I am to pay for their children. As a result, I engaged in goat farming to earn extra income for the family through its sales once it breeds. I currently have 5 goats that are under the custody of a relative because I have not yet constructed a loafing shed for them. Therefore, I utilized $100 of the transfers on putting up a structure and now I hope to repossess them. For the rest of the transfers, I saved them as I await the rainy season to revert to maize, cowpeas and green gram farming.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($443 USD)
access_time 1 year ago
attach_money
 
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was at home with my husband the moment I received my transfer. While my husband was relaxing, I was busy with the house core. My phone abruptly began to ring. When I looked into what the message meant, I discovered that I had received money from GiveDirectly. I was overcome with joy because I knew I would be able to achieve my objectives. I immediately informed my husband, who was overjoyed and grateful. We then began to plan when to cash out the money in order to put it to good use.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The major difference is that the organization improved my life. This is due to the fact that I no longer walk long distances in search of water. Due to financial constraints, I was unable to raise the funds for the water connection. As a result, saving the money would have taken a long time. Most importantly, we have safe drinking water for our daily needs. I am grateful for the great achievements that I have attained.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My husband is a farmer, and I work as a teacher at a village nursery school. Due to my medical complications, where I was diagnosed with fibroids, I was unable to have children. After receiving my transfer, my husband and I decided to connect tap water to our home to solve our long-standing water problem. This was difficult previously because it required a large sum of money, which we never had due to our unreliable sources of income. As a result, we used $200. Second, we spent $150 on a latrine and the remainder on food. I don't know how to express how grateful I am; our lives have been drastically altered, and we are grateful.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 1 year ago
 
What do you plan to do with the cash transfer?
I used to have goats here at my home, but the number was growing so fast that I couldn't keep them in my kitchen any more. I needed to have a separate structure for them but it was too expensive for me. So I decided to give them to people under agreements of some sort. At the moment, I'm planning to spend the first transfer to build that and bring back my goats. This will require $300 for both materials and labor cost. If possible I will also extend my kitchen so that I practice poultry farming on one side of it. And lastly, I also want to connect piped water to my home to help me with watering my animals. This may take $150 as per my estimation.
What is the happiest part of your day?
As farmers, I can only be happy when we get good yield. But this hasn't been for a little too long now. Just like I mentioned, the drought has been on for the third year right now which means very little to no yield at all. My husband was somehow creative and change to producing vegetables and so he's been making some amounts from the sales of those. Whenever he does, he normally sends me $15 after a couple of weeks which helps with the burden at home. This makes me happy because it always happens in the middle of the month when I'm dead broke.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food security still remains my biggest challenge. I'm a house wife mostly dependent on my husband, but I also involve myself with subsistence farming to some extent alongside keeping chicken and goats. Recently, I also got a job as untrained ECD teacher in a nearby school earning around $50 monthly. This isn't paying so regularly and from that I still have to pay school fees for my niece who's living with me at $10 per academic term. I decided to take her in because I do not have children of my own. My husband on the other hand is a small time professional farmer who does horticulture and maize production through irrigation at River Galana. But I must say it hasn't been a wonderful time for farmers for quite some time. This is because he still has to hire and fuel a generator for watering crops. Whenever he's broke this fails and that translates into low yield which we have experienced for most of this year.