GDLive Newsfeed
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.
Stages:
 
Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Oscar's Profile
Oscar's family
Oscar
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Small business
faceAge:
23
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($458 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I have a new goal of saving up enough money from the electronic business that I started and ploughing back the same profits go improve my business. Once I received my first and second transfer, I made a conscious decision and invested a total of Kes 25000 in it and the business is doing quite well as at today. Right now I have a stock worth more than Kes 30000 and my target is to have a stock worth more than Kes 70000. I look forward to accomplishing this.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion GiveDirectly did very well in terms of educating us and not discriminating on anyone of us within the village. There are people in the village who were already written off by other villagers but since GiveDirectly were keen not to leave anyone out, they were enrolled and received money like any other person. This to me was very commendable for them. On the other hand, I did not find anything awful that I thought GiveDirectly did not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used KES 15000 from my second transfer to start an electronics business and used another KES 23000 to buy a dairy cow that was a heifer then. The remaining amount was used to dance my compound with chain link. These three investments were made in an effort to make ourselves more stable financially. The money came at the right time when my wife has just completed her college education and us being a young family, we needed to think of ways that we would be more stable financially going forward. The fencing of the compound would see us do poultry keeping and I am happy that we already have 15 chicken for a start. We look forward to seeing more income from dairy, electronic business and milk selling. I am a father of one and my plan is to use the proceeds from my various businesses to pay school fees for our child and meet other immediate family's expenses.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($480 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was almost 5 pm and I was at my business premise which is in the nearby shopping center. My phone rang hence notifying me of a new message. I checked it and wow! I could not believe what I saw. The SMS was saying that I had received the promised transfer of KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy on seeing this since it was a surprise to me. That day I closed the business earlier than usual since I wanted to share the good news with my family.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference that the transfer has brought into our lives as a family is that we managed to fence the whole compound with the chain link that we bought. We also managed to place a gate. As a result of this, we are glad because our chickens no longer go outside to other people's farms like before. The chickens are now less prone to dangers and there are no more conflicts between us and our neighbors.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When we got the transfer, we first took out KES 20000 that we used in repaying a debt that we owed someone. He had pestered us to give back the money but we had not gotten enough money for giving him. We had even offered to pay him little by little but he insisted on the whole amount. We do not have a stable source of income. I have a cyber cafe business while my wife is still studying. The money that I make from the cyber is not much, it is only enough to buy food for my family of 3 and small household needs. Other than that, we bought a piece of land. We bought a point of an acre at KES 25000. We however did not pay the whole amount, we have only paid KES 15000. We hence still owe the seller KES 10000. We had managed to buy 3 points of an acre before but upon building the house, the space that remained was small and hence not enough to practice any agricultural activity. We had thus wished to buy more land that was going to be enough to do agricultural activities such as rearing a cow. With the remaining KES 20000, we used it on buying a gate and chain link for fencing the whole compound. We are thus grateful to GiveDirectly for their big support.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I owe the person who sold me this piece of land arrears of KES 40000, this has been eating up my mind and disturbing my peace for some time. Therefore when I receive this money, I will prioritize clearing this land arrears and plan KES 25000 to kick start my dream of having poultry farming. This will raise my family income through the sale of eggs and other poultry products. Also with the remaining money I will use it to pay school fees for my wife.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I have been able to provide for my family for the last six months with the little money I get from my business I.e KES 500 daily. This made me happy now that I can play my role as a parent.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I provide cyber-service in our village center to earn a living, this enterprise is not stable and earns me a little income of about KES 500 daily. This is not enough for me to gather for my family's basic needs and start other development projects. This is making me struggle financially.