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.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was around 7 am when I had completed preparing my kid's children for school. My phone was off and after switching it on I received a Mpesa message from GiveDirectly. I informed my husband and he verified the message and truly we had received our transfer. We were so glad that morning when I received my transfer since I did not imagine we will receive such a huge amount of money. We started the planning on how to spend the transfer before we could withdraw it.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Boosting my livestock rearing is the biggest difference in my life. I am now a happy livestock farmer knowing that I have some livestock to depend on whenever I encounter a financial emergency. Furthermore, My kids are learning without any disturbance due to school fees. I am very grateful for the transfer.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Boosting the livestock rearing was my longing in life. After receiving my transfer, I invested KES 30,000 in it by purchasing one ox which I intend to buy another one when I received my second transfer to assist me in cultivating my farm. Similarly, I bought 3 goats and one sheep a future investment for my family. I will be able to sell whenever I encounter any financial emergency. Furthermore, bought 2 mattresses one for myself and the other for my kids. The one I had was very small and worn out which was uncomfortable. I also used KES 5,000 to pay the school fees for my 5 children who are in primary school. The remaining amount assisted me in buying food for the family.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means a competitive capital for our family business. My husband is broker who buys goods more specifically livestock from farmers and sell them to other people during major open- air market days. The capital he uses is very small such that his profit comes around 3000KES a week. This amount is not enough to cater for our big family of 8. I intend to use this transfer to boost his capital so that in a week we can have an income of at least 4000KES. This will definitely help us take care of our needs.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Providing enough meal for my family has been a big challenge. Last week our assistant chief came to us and announced that a donor has donated rice and beans. We went and to my surprise, it was a huge amount for each household. So this really helped us and gave us a huge relief.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food insecurity is one of the major challenge as a household faces. The persistent drought in this area is on another level. I used to plant maize and vegetables in my farm but this has been a thing of the past since am now buying almost everything and at a very high cost. All of my cows died because there is nowhere for them to graze. This condition has affected us to an extent that we sometimes go to bed hungry with my young children.
