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 at the grazing field looking after my cows when I received the Mpesa message alert on my phone. I remember it was around 7:30 am. Being uneducated, I had to wait until when I returned home for my helper to confirm the message. I had earlier heard the rumors that some villagers had received aid from GiveDirectly. I was very happy for receiving my transfer since I could not imagine that I will in possession of such a huge amount of money in my life. I had to plan with the rest of my family members before I could withdraw and use spend it.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that I am currently living a better life after undergoing proper medical assistance. At the moment, I am feeling well going on with recovery. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the aid that had restored my health condition.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent my transfer to expand my house by constructing an additional room. This is because our house was small to fully accommodate all of us and our household utensils. In addition, I used KES 8,000 to undergo a kidney dialysis medical procedure. For years now, I had wished to seek proper medical care but I lacked the financial capacity. Also, I spent KES 10,000 to clear all the fees for my child who is in secondary school. In addition, I boosted my livestock rearing by purchasing 3 more goats. I also decided to use the remaining amount on food while nursing the operation wound as well as save some for any emergence.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I have a house that is about three years old, quite a lot of time for a temporary structure. I would like to reinforce the walls by building a concrete skirting around it externally plus columns on every corner. At the moment it also doesn't have a proper door which I'll have to replace. That will definitely improve the value of my house and make it strong enough to take me some more years before I think about constructing another one. This project might cost about 50000 KES or more. But I'll be happy because it will all mean a peace of mind to me.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I'm really happy that my wife's business has grown consistently over the past six months and we're still able to get most of our needs as a family. She sells local brew in a particular shopping center in a small town called Majengo. This business is normally not so lucrative and local authorities also makes it so hard to operate it at low cost for maximum profit. I'm also happy despite all that I have managed to take all my children to school.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My biggest challenge is lack of a source of income. I'm somehow old and no longer productive. For that reason my wife has become the sole breadwinner for the family but she can't get enough as she only does small businesses. She sells local brew in a nearby shopping center, a business that can only get us around 1500 KES weekly. This is quite too little given that we have three children in boarding high schools where we pay school fees and also pay rent for the premise as well as feeding ourselves.
