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 ($467 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?
We do not have any major new goals at the moment because we were able to fulfill most of our goals with the transfers that we got from GiveDirectly. We managed to buy livestock, that is, the cows and some sheep. We also managed to build a house for our boys to sleep in. I am going to take care of the livestock while my husband will continue with his business of selling groundnuts in the nearby town. The livestock is going to help us a lot in the future with the children's school fees when they join secondary school.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly did well because they uplifted the living standards of the people in the village. Life was tough before but with the transfers, we were able to change our lives for the better. I would like to hence urge them to continue with the good work.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent the second transfer on building a house for our boys to sleep in. We spent approximately KES 25000 on the work. We decided to build them one because they did not have any and hence they used to go to other boys' houses to sleep. We managed to finish the construction and they are very happy because they no longer move around at night looking for somewhere to sleep. We also bought a calf with part of the transfer money. We bought it at KES 17000. We decided to buy it to add to the cow and the sheep that we bought with the first transfer so that they can help us in the future with the children's school fees when they join secondary school. We have three children and they are still in primary school. We have hence not incurred a lot of costs since we are not paying a lot for their school fees. With the remaining amount, we used it in buying food and clothes. We are hence so much grateful to GiveDirectly because we were able to achieve a lot with their support.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($492 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was happy the moment I saw the transfer in my MPESA.I called my husband to inform him about the exciting news since he was up and about with his daily manual jobs.He was equally excited on receiving the news.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
With the milestones that I have seen in the past few weeks, I am so greatful that I was able to acquire what we had planned. My biggest joy is being able to get enough meals daily with my children since it had been strenuous for my husband since he does manual jobs to cater for our daily needs.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
With the first transfer, I spent Kshs.28,000 on buying goats .I had always wanted to buy the goats since I had some cows and I felt I could budget on buying the goats as an addition to my livestock and whenever a need with financial urgency comes up I can sell to get money.In addition, I also bought a calf at a cost of Kshs.15,000 to add on the one that I had.With the remaining amount of money I bought food and clothing for my entire family.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
My father-in-law has three wives and 22 children among them, my husband. Because of this large family size, we were given a small portion of land as part of the inheritance. The size of the land that we were given is 0.5 acres. A huge portion of this land has already been occupied by our structures and compound leaving a small part to cultivate. Receiving this money means that I will first increase my size of land by 0.2 acres for KES 25,000/acre. In this way, I will be having a total of 0.4 acres to cultivate thereby increasing the amount of produce for domestic usage. For the remaining amount of money, I intend to buy 1 additional dairy cow and build a small house for my grown-up kid.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the evening. This is the time I get to account for the successes of the day. The happiness becomes even sweeter when I get to confirm that I have executed all my plans for that day.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My husband comes from a large and extended family. This is because my father-in-law has 3 wives and 22 children. During land subdivision, we were allocated 0.5 acres of land as part of my husband's inheritance. This size is insufficient as a chunk of it is occupied by our structures and house compound. There is no adequate space to carry out both dairy and crop farming and so I depend mostly on buying foodstuffs like milk and vegetables from the market to fend for my family. If I could be having a larger land, I would be planting animal feeds and practice dairy and crop farming. This for me is the biggest hardship I have faced in my life.
