GDLive Newsfeed
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.
Stages:
 
Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Gidion's Profile
Gidion's family
Gidion
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Casual labor
faceAge:
25
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($435 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?
My wife is a house wife. In the coming years and beyond, I will open for her a groceries shop, which its profits will help us with the family upkeep and for educating our children who are still in Primary SChool. Once the business picks up, I will buy more cows for farming and for producing milk for sale and consumption.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, what GiveDirectly does well in this program is that we receive the transfers in lumpsum amounts. This helps in planning as one is in a position to do something huge as compared to when the transfers are given in small instalments. Another thing that GiveDirectly does well is that the unlearned recipients are taught how to use mpesa. This has reduced the number of theft cases in the community as most of us managed to change our pins to a more secure code. What needs to be done differently is enrolling all the individuals in the household to avoid household conflict. During enrollment, those individuals who did not have responsibilities by then were left out of the program yet these are the same people who steal from their old and vulnerable parents. Another thing that needs to be done differently is enrolling all the communities in a specific village for uniformity purposes and this will prevent too many complaints coming from the communities that are left out during the registration to the programs.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I do small business of delivering items to the clients. Mostly I hire motorcycle which is quite expensive by the end of the day. I used the whole of the transfers of 51,350 to buy a motorcycle for the deliveries.Since I bought the motorcycle, I can now reach a higher number of my clients and this has increased the profits yield from the business.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I learned in the morning that I had received money from GiveDirectly the previous night, this is because the message notification came late at night when we were all asleep. it was the best news that morning, When I told my wife about the money, she was equally happy, this is because we had plans in place on how we were going to spend our money, thus we knew that God had answered our prayers because everything was going as we had planned.
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 have been able to save up money from my motorcycle business, which I then used in starting a goat rearing project, I can confidently say that the future looks bright for us, this is because I will be able to save up money for my children's education with nothing to worry about, I am so grateful for the opportunity that brought so much joy and happiness in our lives.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I work as a Boda Boda rider, though I never had my motorbike, this is because I never had enough money because what I earn daily is only enough to feed the family and other basic needs only, instead I used to work on a rented motorcycle, therefore, my wife and I had agreed that I used my first transfer in buying a second-hand motorcycle so that we can at least have a reliable source of income, thus I used KES 40,000, I then used the remaining part of the money in buying foodstuffs and clothes.
 
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
For the past 3 years, we have been buying milk from the neighbors for domestic use. A liter cost KES 30 and we use an average of 2 liters a day. Getting KES 60 per day for milk alone is challenging based on the fact that I am a casual laborer. Receiving this money means that I will be in a position to buy 1 dairy cattle for KES 45000 to supplement my family with milk. This will put to end the daily recurrent expenditure on milk. I intend to use the remaining amount of the transfer for food security, clothing, and invest in goat rearing.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Givedirectly has been operating in our location for the past 3 months and I have been constantly monitoring them. We were so happy when we heard that the organization had started working in one of the villages within our sub-location. We felt like God had answered our prayers since we had prior information from our relatives of how impactful Givedirectly transfers can be on someone's life.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My family is still young and I have got a 2-year-old kid who must take milk like 6 times a day. A liter of milk costs KES 30 and we use an average of 2 liters per day. Getting KES 60 daily to purchase milk alone is challenging as there are other basic needs that we have to account for. Casual jobs like fencing and cultivating other people's farms are unreliable and the pay is like KES 100 a day. This is insufficient to cater for our entire basic needs for the day.