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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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($442 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?
The new goal that I have now is to build a kitchen house. This is my main focus now in that I want to have a better and more spacious kitchen. I wish to raise money to purchase building materials from the small businesses that I operate. This is my main priority and I wish to accomplish it soon.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly does well by giving money to the poor in society to improve their standard of living. Most of the people were able to build better houses and pay school fees for their children in various schools. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent KES 40,000 on repaying the debt that I had borrowed from a friend to start a business. This was my main concern since I had always wished to pay this before but it was not possible. This was giving me sleepless nights since I did not where to get the money. I do not have a continuous source of income and this was making this a big challenge. Currently, I have peace of mind in that I have paid all the debt. I do my daily activities without being disturbed like before. The remaining amount of money I spent on household basic needs and food for the family. I am so grateful because GiveDirecly has improved our standard of living.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($475 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
With the great happiness that I had after receiving a confirmation message of the first transfer, I immediately informed my household members who were very excited too. It was around 8:00 am when I noticed that I had received the message and had to call upon my family members to a sit-down where we planned before I headed to the nearby shopping center to withdraw the whole amount the following day.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the complete change in my family's outlook. A lot has changed, and I am grateful that I have initiated the construction of a new kitchen. This has been my dream for a long time, and it is my joy that the work has finally picked up after the receipt of the first transfer.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
With my family of five, I had been living in a large house that had a combination of a kitchen, living room, and also bedroom. The fumes from the kitchen would always spread all over the rooms leaving spots of soot, especially on the white garments. On receiving the second transfer, my household decided to put up a new kitchen separate from the main house to enhance the clean air in the other rooms. I had been collecting the construction materials, and so far I have obtained building poles and iron sheets at KES 20000. I am looking forward to starting the construction in the next few days. In addition, I also added a stock of KES 20000 to the retail business I had been running in the nearby shopping center. This had been the source of our income and livelihood for my children, and I am happy to be seeing more customers and an increased profit margin in the past few days. I also bought clothing for my three children and saved the remaining amount to check on the construction requirements.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I have a shop at a nearby shopping center but I operate it on a rental premise. I own a plot at the same center and my desire has been to build my shop to save me the cost of paying KES 2000 rent every month. I make a profit of KES 3000 from my business and all of it is spent on buying food and paying school fees for my 2 children, leaving me with no savings. I feel disappointed that after 10-years of being in this business I have no savings to show for it. I intend to spend KES 20000 from my transfer to construct my own shop and another KES 10000 to expand my business. Receiving this money will help me build a shop saving the cost of paying rent every month.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I was happy when curfew was lifted in October last year because it gave me more time to attend to my shop business
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food insecurity is the biggest challenge that I currently face. I have three young children and as a parent, I feel that milk is an important part of their diet because of its nutrients. As we speak I have to buy 3-liters of milk at a cost of KES 40 for every liter daily. I also have to buy maize flour and vegetables making my daily expenditure to be approximately KES 300-400 a day. My daily profit from my shop business is KES 300 and that means I have to look for other sources of getting money like borrowing from friends. This situation will soon get out of hand because of the debts amounting to KES 7000 that I have accumulated over time and this is a constant source of stress.
