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?
I was in still bed when I received a message and on checking, I was so excited to see that I had received the money from GiveDirectly. I was full of joy and excitement and immediately woke up and thanked God. We celebrated as a family.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the fact that I now have one extra house; an iron roofed house, big enough for all of us. I am excited that I will soon have an extra space for us since we currently use one house for all the activities. I am also glad that I can now harvest clean rain water from the iron roofs. Before, I used to go fetch water in a small pound and most of the time this water was dirty and and unhygienic at all. I am no longer worried about my children taking dirty water and falling ill. The school fees burden that I had was also lessened since I was able to pay some of the fees using the transfer. We also have sufficient food after buying maize in bulk. We initially used to buy food a day at a time and apart from being expensive to do that, we were sometimes unlucky to have food and it would force us to sleep hungry.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent a big portion of the transfer received to build an iron roofed house. I initially owned only one grass thatched hut which was used as both a kitchen and bedroom. The house was sometimes so congested and uncomfortable. I am glad we will soon have enough room for all of us once I complete building the house. Apart from the increased space, The iron roofed allows me harvest rain water for use in my household. I also paid my children's school fees using part of the transfer and bought them some school uniform. I also bought food and other household items using the transfer.
Enrolled
access_time over 4 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Building a more spacious iron roofed house at $350 is what receiving this money means to my family. This one roomed hut we live in accomodates my spouse and I together with our seven children, four of them are in their teenage stage hence privacy is limited in our home. We will then use $300 of our transfer to buy a heifer that will be our source of income from selling milk produced by it and from this, my family will no longer take milkless tea like we usually do, much regards to GD.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My usual day entails spending my mornings and afternoons in my farm cultivating my vegetables. This is the time i am most happy keeping in mind that the vegetables i cultivate will in turn mature up for harvesting hence an assurance of surplus food for my family
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Prolonged droughts that we usually experience in this area has been the greatest genesis of hunger that we experience, hindering us from accessing proper food security since our lands are less productive, which is the biggest hardship we face.
