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 thrilled me when I first received the message from GiveDirectly. At that moment, I was alone at home at around 4:00 PM. With my young children, - the elder one is 10 years old - I could not discuss the receipt after informing them since they could not understand much. Since I had all my goals set, I later visited the nearby shopping center, where I collected all the money.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the great happiness after making the first payment to the piece of land in my neighborhood. This gave me hope of soon moving into my space where I can develop and later expand to accommodate my children.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I was eager to receive the first transfer after enrolment into the program since I had a brilliant plan to invest in a piece of land that my neighbor was selling. As a single mother, I had been living on my parents' land and would always rent an additional piece from the neighborhood to farm for my children. My siblings had subdivided the small piece that my parents owned amongst themselves and providing for my children on the small piece that was left was always hard. On receiving the first transfer, I deposited KES 40000 on a small piece in the neighborhood. I also bought new pairs of clothes for my children at KES 5000, a sack of maize that we are currently using as foodstuff at KES 6000, and used the remaining on purchasing other household goods that we had been missing. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the generous support and hopeful that the second transfer will bring other great transformations into my household.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I lost my mother 3 years ago to suicide, being a firstborn this left me to bear the burden of my younger 9 siblings. We have been living in a grass thatched house which is old and dilapidated, this has made our neighbors discriminate against us. So when I heard GiveDirectly was coming to our village I felt it could be our chance to improve our home into a decent place. I am planning to build a semi-permanent house for KES 50,000 and to buy beddings for the family, we have been sleeping on the floor since we were born. I will be glad to improve my sibling's livelihood.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In the last 3months, I have had a consistent income, I was employed as a cleaner in one of the hotels where I earn KES 3000 a month. This has enabled my siblings to have all basic needs. I am always delighted to see my siblings smile at the end of the day especially when they have food to eat.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The main challenge is food insecurity. We own a small piece of land that is not enough for us to farm crops that can last us a whole year. We practice subsistence farming mainly maize and beans, I work as a casual laborer in a nearby town where I was in people's shops and fetch water for hotels this earns me a little income of KES 200 on a good day. This is not sufficient to purchase foodstuffs for the very expensive marketing, especially with the high cost of living in the country.
