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 ($517 USD)
access_time over 4 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I have never bought any livestock on my part , now the coming directly has changed my life. I now have three cows which I am keeping as assets to me. Besides, I will be getting milk for my family's consumption as well selling the surplus to earn an income.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly has done well in ensuring that we receiving ,that we were getting help through issuing these transfers without any strings attached. I do not see anything that GiveDirectly does
What did you spend your second transfer on?
I spent part of the second transfer buying two cows worthy KES 30000 which I am currently keeping. I also spent KES 8000 to plough my four acre farm.Then I spent the remaining amount on buying foodstuffs and paying for other household expenses.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($544 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
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Describe the biggest difference in your daily life.
My daily life has definitely changed because I now own livestock that I did not have before and would never own if I did not get financial support from GD. In my community, owning livestock is the biggest show of wealth, and now that my household owns a few, our status in the community has definitely gone a bar higher.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
The moment we received the message indicating that we had received the money was the happiest moment of our lives. We were too excited because we have never received such an amount even from the jobs that we do. We thank GD for giving us the opportunity to change our lives by giving us such an amount.
What did you spend your first transfer on?
I used part of the money I recently received to buy two cows and four goats because for as long as I can remember, we have always wanted to own livestock but could not buy them due to low income. We are still saving the rest of the money and carefully planning on how to use them, but we are seriously considering investing it in a grocery business.
Enrolled
access_time over 5 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I come from a pastoralist community and from what I have seen, so many of the people who have livestock of their own are faring on very well in life. They are able to educate their children to higher levels, plough larger portions of their farms on time during the rainy seasons and even sought out any emergency issue that arises with so much ease. As a family, we have always wished to have our own stock so that we could also enjoy the same benefits but our wishes have always remained to be a piped dream due to lack of finances to purchase even a goat. However, with this money, we see our life time dream coming true. We plan to buy two dairy cows,two oxen and an ox plough to expand our farming and also be hiring out at a fee and also buy several goats for keeping.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I am mostly happy in the evening when I return home from the fields and I manage to take a bath then relax afterwards. For the better part of the day,I am mostly engaged in the fields cutting logs, arranging them and setting up the furnace for burning my charcoal. The task is tiresome more so when combined with the scotching sun and I really look forward to coming back home in the evening to rest.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Ever since we started burning charcoal and selling in order to get our income, our lives managed to improve a bit. However, our good days of living were short lived. Around early last year when the government placed a ban on the burning of charcoal, our source of income was greatly affected when buyers reduced significantly. We work so hard to get the product ready but there are no buyers. Our finances have greatly dwindled and affording necessary commodities around the household are proving to be too difficult by each passing day that the ban continues to exist. Farming that used to supplement for the tough times whenever we ploughed our farms has also been greatly affected by the ongoing drought. I feel like I am trapped in a financial crisis that I do not know how to escape from and I can only pray for the ban to be lifted.
