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.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My next goal is to lease a piece of land where I will grow short-season crops. I will grow beans over the next three months followed by cabbages, practicing crop rotation.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the poultry project that I bought. I started the chicken keeping using the money. I then provided them with eggs to hatch. I have about 40 chics and ten hens. They are going to multiply and earn me a daily income. I hope to continue to keep the birds and grow as a poultry farmer.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
My life will have improved because I will have harvested two crops, beans, and cabbages over the next six months on the land that I am going to lease. I will have produced beans, and then grown cabbages. Crop rotation will yield me more income that will help me buy a cow. I wish to own livestock which is why I want to invest in a heifer from the proceeds.
24th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 4 years ago
attach_money
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My additional goal in life is to expand my house by building an extension of two decent and more permanent rooms. I will use timber to build the walls and also make sure to cement the floor. My children currently sleep in the kitchen any attempt for them to read in the evening is always futile due to a lot of disturbances. Building these two rooms will allow them to have their room that will act as their study as well as a sleeping room.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I have been able to start a poultry keeping project. I was able to achieve this using my two last transfers and I am glad that we now have eggs as a substitute for vegetables. Also, my wife will be able to settle some household needs for our family using the income from this project. In addition to this, I was able to lease a piece of land and grew maize in it. I had never been able to achieve this before due to a lack of enough money. I am now optimistic that my produce this year will increase and it will last us till the next harvesting season. Due to this, my family will not be buying maize flour anymore and I will also be able to save the money I would otherwise use in buying them.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
My life will have changed in the next six months in that I will have finished building the extension of two rooms for my family. I already have a tree that I will use in making timber for this work and I will use my next transfers to start this work. Also, I am hopeful that I will have started a business of buying and selling eggs. I will be buying at KES 10 from the farmers in my locality and sell them to other business people in our neighboring town at KES 15. This will be a profitable business for me since most people in my area are not indulging themselves in it. I will be investing the income from this business in other income-generating activities.
20th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time 5 years ago
attach_money
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago since I have been able to start two projects. I was able to use part of my transfers to start a poultry keeping project and opened a restaurant at our nearest shopping center. I have not employed anyone at the moment and I am operating both projects with my wife. I settled on these two projects since no restaurants are operating in my locality and also chicken is highly marketable in this region. The income from the restaurant business has enabled me to cater for our needs on time.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My additional goal for the next four months is to build a house for my children. They are currently using our kitchen as their bedroom and this normally inconveniences them especially the younger ones when they want to sleep early. Also, their clothes and school uniform normally smell smoke which is usually very embarrassing.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life ever since I started getting transfers from Give Directly is that I have been able to start a poultry keeping project. I have been able to build a chicken coop and buy fifteen chicken for a start. This project will act as my alternative source of income as I continue doing other work. This will ensure that I never get stranded in terms of catering for my family needs.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, my life will have changed in that I will have built a house for my children. They will be sleeping comfortably in their room and their privacy will be well assured. Apart from that, I will have saved enough money to lease a piece of land that I will use to plant Genetically modified plants which take a short time to mature. This will ensure food security for my family which will last us until the next harvesting season.
16th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
attach_money
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that I earn an income from my poultry project Due to this, I no longer do casual jobs in the village as I have devoted most of my time on my farm. With this, I am now positive that my farms produce this year will increase and this will ensure food security for my family.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
In the next four months, my new additional goal is to buy some building materials to use in building a better and spacious poultry house for my chicken. This is because the one I currently have is small and the number of my chicken are increasing in number as time goes by. Building a spacious house for my chicken will reduce the risk of being stolen since it will be well secure. The house will also ensure that they are not overcrowded thus it will reduce the chances of them getting infected with some diseases.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I have started poultry keeping project. This project earns me an income every day by selling eggs at the center near home. Nowadays, I am able to meet household needs and food for the family. Before I used to work so hard doing the casual jobs and the little I could get could not meet all the basic needs and sometimes my family could miss some of the basic needs. Currently, people come to my home to collect the eggs and sometimes sell at the center. This poultry keeping project has enabled my family to live happily because we no longer lack some things like before and we have devoted much of our time on this project rather than doing the casual jobs.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months in that I would have saved enough money to rent a piece of land to do horticultural farming. This will enable me to have enough food for the family. Venturing into horticultural farming will also make my family not to depend too much on the poultry project and this will enable it to grow and I will be able to save some money to use in meeting other needs for my family.
12th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
attach_money
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months is that I no longer struggle so much to meet my needs. Before this transfer, we never used to afford to buy some basic needs. We could even sleep hungry at times, This was hurting my family. So currently, we can afford to eat all the three meals.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goals in life for the next four months is to make sure I start a small business of selling clothes. Ever since I was young my ambition was to always meet the gap of our community in terms of clothing. Many people travel far to go buy clothes for themselves and their family. Therefore, I want to tap into the business since there is less competition.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months is that I'm now able to borrow a loan and start a small business and be able to pay promptly. I have never had the capacity in my life to borrow a loan because my credit level has been very low. i can now have a relaxed mind knowing I can pay on time without defaulting and without being coerced.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months for the better when I start my clothes business. This means I will be able to cater to every need for my family without going for casual labor jobs in the village. I believe the business has good returns because of less competition. This is something we have discussed with my wife and we are passionate about it.
7th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 6 years ago
attach_money
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life currently is different since I now days do not struggle a lot in paying school fees for my children.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
The only goal I now have is to clear school fees for my son who is in form four.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life is happiness.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in that I will have started leasing a farm and plant horticultural crops which I will later sell them.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time over 6 years ago
attach_money
Do you have any new goals that you didn't have before receiving the transfer?
I have a plan to buy chicken since i long to practice poultry farming very much.
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
The transfer helped me to work more less than before,initially i have been working extra hard to get money to buy everything in my house and this costed my health a lot.I developed a nose bleeding when i started over working myself.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months ,i will want to start business that will boost my life in terms of availability of money.I will be able to avail food to my family without much strain.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer enables me to provide food for my family everyday either i get a contract to do or not.
Enrolled
access_time almost 7 years ago
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My greatest hardship now is that i have children in two school i have to pay fees. This is because my casual job is very unreliable and unstable.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My happiest part of the day is at noon when we are taking lunch with my family and the day's activities are getting done.
What are you planning to spend your transfer on?
Am planning to you use the transfer to pay school fees for my children. Part of this year's transfer I'll buy farm inputs to boost my farming. I'll also use the transfer future to build a house for my family and start a business like opening a shop.
What is the achievement you are proudest of?
Am proud that I've been able to educate my children through high school and some are still in school.