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.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was at a burial in the nearby location when I received my first transfer from GiveDirectly. The message came in, and my heart was filled with joy; however, we were at a sad occasion since my friend had lost her husband. The first thing I thought about was paying the fees for my daughter, who had recently joined high school. God bless you, GiveDirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
My maize on an acre of land was ready for harvest, but I did not have the money to facilitate the process. What worried me even more was the rain that was present at the time; further delays would have led to the loss of the maize as it would have been ruined. The arrival of the GiveDirectly transfers was a blessing for me, allowing me to prioritize harvesting, which yielded 710 kg of clean maize. Now, I am awaiting payment from Kenya Seed Company. If it hadn’t been for GiveDirectly, I would have surely lost my maize. I am grateful.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My maize on an acre of land was ready for harvest, and honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to get the money for harvesting and transporting it to the collection point for drying, shelling, and quality checks. Fortunately, my first transfer from GiveDirectly came at the right time, and I used $100 from the transfer for this purpose. Additionally, I run a shop, which is my main source of income to support my family of four as a single mom. To boost my business, I decided to add stock worth $60. Previously, there were items I lacked, and it made me feel bad to send customers away, but now I have them in stock, which has indeed contributed to an increase in my daily sales. Furthermore, my daughter in high school had arrears of $160, so I decided to reduce it by $40 from the transfer, and I plan to clear the remaining balance with my maize proceeds. Thank you, GiveDirectly.
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What do you plan to do with the cash transfer?
Receiving the cash transfers from Give Directly means so much to me because it will enable me to counter the financial challenges I'm facing currently. With the first KES 20000 of the cash transfers I plan to pay school fees for my child who attends a day school. I plan to use KES 5000 of the cash transfers. I also plan to replenish my shops stock that was destroyed by floods by using KES 10000 and finally I plan to do tomato farming by investing KES 5000. For the second cash transfer I intend to use KES 20000 to further replenish my shops stock. This will assist me in making sure that I have enough stock even after getting destroyed by floods. For the remaining KES 25000 I plan to further do farming by purchasing the seedlings for the tomato farm. With the third cash transfer I intend to use the entire KES 45000 to finish the work on my tomato farm. This is an important investment for me since I will be able to get a good profit from it which will in turn change my life positively.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Over the past 6 months, my happiness came from celebrating my birthday in the month of June. This greatly delighted me since I received birthday wishes from my friends and family members. It is a day that I have felt the most happy since this year began.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My greatest challenge currently comes from the recent floods that affected our village. The coming of the floods destroyed my shop and part of the stock I had including sugar, rice and maize. This has left me at a loss without money to replenish the spoiled stock. This has made my life very difficult since I don't have enough stock in my shop.
