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 around 8 am and I was at home relaxing. I was from farming and I decided to check my phone for any messages or missed calls. I saw that I had a new message and on opening it, I could not believe my eyes when I saw that I had received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy on seeing this that I immediately called my husband who had already left and I told him the good news. He was so happy too and we thanked God for everything. We now knew that the plans that we had were now going to be fulfilled.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a very big difference in our lives as a family. Our living standards changed for the better and we are no longer like before. This is because we now have a kitchen, something that we never thought we will be able to build soon. We are now sleeping well at night since the other house is free from the kitchen smoke. We now also have sheep that are going to help us in the future when they will have multiplied in number. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for your big help.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 25000 of our recent transfer on building a kitchen house. We decided to build it because we only had one house that we use to sleep in it and also cook in. We have been meaning to build the kitchen but due to lack of money, we have not been able to do so. My husband and I do not have stable sources of income and hence we usually do casual jobs to earn a living. The money that we get paid is little, and it is only enough to buy food. We also spent another KES 10000 on buying two sheep. We bought the sheep because they usually reproduce and multiply in number very fast. They will thus be of great help to us in the future since we can sell some whenever we face an emergency that requires us to have money. Other than that, we also bought a bed at KES 3000, and with the remaining transfer amount, we used it on buying maize for our consumption and some water containers.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am six months old in marriage after getting married immediately after high school. My life has not been easy with the household responsibilities to take care of. I gave birth four months ago thus since I got married I have not got a chance to be engaged in any meaningful activities. Luckily, my husband had built one iron-roofed house. This is where we call it home and I am proud of it. We have had a plan to build a kitchen but the little resources in our family have not given us a chance. Receiving this cash transfer to me means a decent separate kitchen. I am planning to use KES 15000 to build an iron-roofed kitchen. This is a dream come true for me. This is an assurance of ample space for my family and a comfortable place to welcome my visitors. Archiving this means a room to invest our income in other income-generating activities.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In my entire family life, I have come to realize food security is very important. It has always been my struggle that we do not go to bed empty stomach with my family. In the last six months, harvesting maize I had planted is my main source of happiness. I feel so happy to harvest them knowing that I will have enough food for us. This will give us ample minds to think of our future needs.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
We are part of a polygamous family with many children. After my father subdivided our piece of land among ourselves, we got each slightly above half an acre. Farming being our main source of income, this makes it too small to cultivate. To me, the scarce resource is the current challenge we are facing.
