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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Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
attach_money
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. It was around 11:00pm and I heard my phone ring and when I checked I had indeed received money from GiveDirectly. I kept checking over and over again just to be sure that indeed I had been sent money from GiveDirectly. The next morning I brainstormed on how I was going to spend the money and later withdrew and started using the money.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily live is the various investments made such as the dairy cow which I now get at least 3 liters per day. A litre of milk sells at KES 30 and I make up to KES 60 per day from the sale of milk right now. This gives me an average of KES 300 per week enough to meet the basic household needs and this has lifted the living standards of my family. The house that we have been building and that has stalled for almost three months then is now moving towards being almost complete. I feel this has borough a lot of changes in my life and I couldn't be any happier than this.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used KES 35000 to buy a dairy cow. For a long time I had had the desire of buying a dairy cow for our family. I knew this as much needed as it would provide us with milk for local consumption and the remainder would be used to buy basic household needs from its proceeds. I feel proud that the burden of buying milk is already reduced and we are looking forward to even better days ahead. The remaining amount was used to buy iron sheets and timber for making doors for my almost complete house.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receipt of this money means we shall lead a better and more satisfying lifestyle. This is because we shall afford to but a cow, a livestock that we value a lot as a family and community. Cattle are prestigious animals that provide us with milk for consumption and sale. Also, cattle are valuable investments in our area. Hence, owning one will be a great boost to my family. Besides, we will use some of the funds to complete our new house that has stalled due to lack of funds. We are peasant farmers without any other source of income. Finally, we shall purchase seats for our new house because we have acquired none.
What is the happiest part of your day?
About four months ago, we started building a better and bigger house after selling some price of land we had. Before then, we used to live in a single two-roomed house with a leaking roof. Despite the dilapidated condition of our house, we were much congested since we are a family of nine. Currently, we have a bigger and better house. Though we are yet to complete the house, this serves as the only thing that has attracted happiness in my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest challenge that my family is currently facing is the continued inadequacies of food. We have depleted our food stores since the relatively low harvests from our 0.8 acres of land could not sustain our family of nine for even a quarter of a year. Previously, we used to rely on a public land (Chepalungu forest) to plant crops. Unfortunately, our government has banned such activities.
