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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($468 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I am one of the people who were evicted from Mau Mau and its unfortunate I never benefited from the government settlement plans.I worked as an Housmaid for more than a year in Nairobi before starting my own business of cooking fried potatoes. My goal was owning my piece of land and building my house which I was able to achieve through my first savings of the year.Recently after building a two roomed house I developed interest to furnish the house and to have a separate kitchen .
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion GiveDirectly has made people's dreams come true. Personally as a single mother its been a struggle even through my small business, I never thought that I will ever have my own cow.Looking back when the GiveDirectly team visited my village most of us never had goals and some had lost hope for the future.I am happy to say that all my neighbours have all changed and improved their houses and some have livestock they never dreamt of having .Moreover most of our children are back to school.Givedirectly brought light in the tunnel of darkness brought by poverty.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My recent transfer was spent in building a kitchen .I used all the money mainly in buying all the building materials and paying the contractor.I remained with KES 5000 which I bought more stock of potatoes in order to increase my daily income .
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($488 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
While I was doing my laundry one morning, I received a message at about 10 a.m, which surprised me. I could not believe my eyes when I saw that I had received KES 55,000 from GiveDirectly. I felt extremely happy and said a prayer of thanks to God for the blessing of a lifetime.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
I'm still in awe of how much my family's lives have transformed thanks to the transfer from GiveDirectly. My two children and I have been living in a small, grass-thatched house. Even though it's a single-room, it also serves as a kitchen. It's not spacious enough, and there's no sense of privacy. I have dreamt of changing this for a long time, but I have no source of income and therefore had no money to do so. So you can imagine how lucky I felt to receive this cash transfer. It has enabled me to buy construction material and begin the construction of a modern, one-bedroom house. Thanks, GD!
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My two children and I have been living in a single-room house, which also serves as a kitchen. It can barely accommodate us, but I am unemployed had no money to build another. So I've spent KES 39,000 on construction materials such as timber and bricks, and labour costs for our new home. Its construction is still in progress, but I'm happy about it. I also bought two chairs worth KES 8,000 and a bed worth KES 3,500, since we have been sleeping on the floor.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means quality education for my children. I have 3 children and a Sister who are in school. I have been struggling a lot to pay for their school fee's since am the only one they are depending on. I was evicted from Mau forest in 2019 and my parents had passed on. I started from scratch and thing's have been very hard. My children have been send out of school several times even missing exams because of fees problem. When I receive the transfer, I will spend KES 60,000 on paying school fees for the children and clear the balance I owe the school. I will buy a dairy cow Worth KES 30,000, buy foodstuffs and clothing's for the family using the remaining amount.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the evening. This is the time i have been paid for the daily work and am sure that my children will have something to eat on that day. This gives me hope for another day.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Financial constraints is the biggest hardship I have faced in my life. Being the sole provider in the family of 5 and not employed has been a challenge.i have been depending only on casual jobs which pay KES 250 a day. A times you do not get a job meaning you have nothing to eat and my children will sleep hungry that day. This makes me feel so sad and have suicidal thoughts a times.
