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 4 pm and I was at home relaxing after finishing the day's work. I was talking over the phone with my brother and upon hanging up, I saw that I had a new SMS. I opened it and wow! it was an SMS saying that I had received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy on seeing the good news and I immediately called my husband to tell him of the good news. He was so happy on hearing about it. We even ate special food that day to celebrate the blessing from GiveDirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference in my life and that of my family. We now have enough food for our consumption since we were able to buy some that are going to last us for a while. We thus no longer have debts. We used to at times borrow money to buy food or we could take foodstuffs from the shop on credit with the promise to pay back later. We also managed to buy new clothes for ourselves and we now have a cow of our own. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for the support.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 18000 of our recent transfer on buying iron sheets. We bought the iron sheets because we are planning to build another house when we get the second transfer. We only have one small house and hence the space is not enough for the six of us. We used to have two houses before but we had to demolish one because it had grown old. We have always wished to build another house but we did not have the money to do so. I have a small hotel business while my husband is casually employed to look after herds of cattle as they graze. The money that we make is only enough to buy food, pay school fees for the children, and pay the merry-go-round contributions for the self-help groups that we have joined. Apart from the iron sheets, we also bought a calf at KES 15000. We did not have a cow of our own before, the one that we have is borrowed and it has always been our wish to have our own. With the remaining amount of money, we used it in buying food for our consumption and we bought clothes for our four children.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means better housing for my family. I have a house that serves as the kitchen, living room, and bedroom that is very small. I intend to build a big two-roomed house that will have separate spaces for my family since the one that I am in does not give us privacy and my four children have to sleep with their grandmother.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In the last six months, we were able to farm maize thanks to the sufficient rainfall that we received. I am happy because I have food for my children and it will allow me to save some money that was intended for buying food.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Financial constraint is my major challenge because the job that I do is not stable and the money that I earn from it is less. My husband and I rely on casual labor that is paid daily that enables us to buy food only and does not allow us to do other projects in our home such as expand g our house.
