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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($425 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
In the coming year and beyond, I hope to start a small shop business in our village for my wife. Currently, she is a stay-at-home parent, and her wish is to assist me in raising our family through engaging in income-generating activities. Additionally, she will fulfill her dream of being self-reliant, something that will make my spouse happy.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly did well in enrolling all eligible households in the community. Furthermore, the officers were very polite and professional. They elaborated on the enrollment stages well; it was easy to understand the processes, and no one faced discrimination basic on politics or religion.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I operate a motorbike taxi business as a reliable source of livelihood for my family. This generates an income of $3 per day on average. With a family of five, this income is hardly enough, since I have two kids in a private school. I spent $100 to pay my kid's school fees since they had huge arrears. In addition, I bought two local dairy cows for $250, providing a dependable source of income and a steady supply of milk for the family's consumption. Finally, I bought enough food to sustain us for the next two months.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($462 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
On reading the message and confirming that it was money from GiveDirectly, I felt so happy. It was around 6.00 PM while I was at home relaxing after a day's work not expecting anything new to come forward and this was a surprise. Even though GiveDirectly had promised us some money, but we did not expect it would be sent that first. I shared the news with my spouse who was happy too with the news.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Our lives have improved since we started receiving the payments from GiveDirectly and everyone in the family is happy including my children. The financial burden we experienced previously could be felt by everyone my three-year-old child included. This is not the case anymore since we have additional income from the milk sales after the cow we bought gave birth. My spouse is no longer idle since she has a cow to look after. My children too are happy and healthy because they have enough milk and food since we can afford a balanced diet because of the additional income.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I am a motorcycle rider and have been the main income earner in the family. Having a family of five to take care of, I strained to meet their needs and in most cases, I would end up in debt. This motivated me to purchase a dairy cow worth KES 37500 for my spouse so that she does not have to rely on me. As we speak, the cow has already given birth, and we do not only get enough milk for family consumption, but my spouse makes KES 180 daily from the milk sales. This is an additional source of income and it has made it easy for our family since they do not depend on me fully. In addition, I have a son in boarding primary school, and he owed the school an arrears of KES 5000 which I cleared with part of the first transfer. KES 5500 I used to offset a loan I had borrowed from our savings and loaning group in April to settle my son's school fees. The remaining KES 6500 I spent on enough different kinds of foodstuffs to keep my family for a while.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means a more comfortable lifestyle in terms of meeting basic needs. At the moment, I operate a motorbike transport that gives me KES 2000 per week, this goes to catering basic needs like food and school needs for our son in primary school. We have been planning to have a source of income to ease these burdens but capital limits us. With this money, we plan to use KES 40,000 which we approximate to give us five liters a day. This will help earn us an income as well as provide milk for domestic use so we do not have to buy it. For the rest of the amount, we plan to build a new kitchen, the one we have is leaking and very small.
What is the happiest part of your day?
We usually have village support groups that we contribute KES 2000 a month to each other. Two months ago, it was our turn, we received KES 40,000. It was our happiest moment as I would not have saved that amount on my own. We used to this money to purchase our first cow.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest challenge is insufficient finances. The small farm we have cannot give us enough to cater to our daily needs. The much I earn all goes to basic needs hence we it cannot allow us to save up for other projects.
