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 a few minutes past 3 pm and I had just taken a short break at work when I heard my phone vibrating. I decided to check it before embarking on what I was doing. I became so happy when I read the Mpesa message and realized that GiveDirectly had finally sent the promised money. With this money in my account, I knew that our lives would never remain the same again.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
We used to live in a small single-room house and with the transfer, I have completed building a two-room house for my family. I had already started building it since I did not want to reach a point where my children would have to sleep in our neighbor's house. I am glad that aside from completing this house, I am an owner of a dairy cow that has enabled me to start saving the money that I would otherwise use in buying milk.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Upon receiving my recent transfer, I spent KES 30000 to buy a dairy cow as an investment. Buying milk has been our routine and we at times had to take tea without milk when I do not have KES 50 to spend on it. I am happy that we no longer buy them and my child gets enough for consumption in a day. In addition, my transfer came in handy in completing the construction of our house as I was able to spend KES 20000 on iron sheets. I provide taxi services using a motorcycle that I purchased on higher purchase and since we were living in a single room, I had decided to start building a bigger house as I continue paying for it. Using the remaining amount, I bought some food items.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I will really appreciate if I receive the transfer. Currently I live in a single house in which it is not comfortable bearing in mind that it serves both as the kitchen, sitting room and the bedroom. It has been my wish to build another structure but money is a great challenge. I am much disappointed in the sense that, in the presence of visitors I feel uncomfortable and unable to give them warm reception. Again there is no privacy of my sheet-bedroom partitioned area.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I was happy and joyous when I harvested one and a half bags of maize in the month of January 2022. In the previous 2 years there was no maize harvests due to maize plants disease outbreak which turned them yellow. I am grateful and I have some peace of mind because my young family have some food to feed on.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I own a loaned motorbike which I normally pay KES 360. Currently there is fuel shortage all over the country and It has forced me to abandon my motorbike taxi service. This means that I have to look for other means to get the mandatory KES 360 daily loan repayment amount. For sure I am worried if the fuel shortage will cease.
