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 7 am and I was at home. I had just gotten there after finishing milking the cow when I thought of switching on my phone which I had switched off last night to conserve power. No sooner had I switched it on than it rang hence notifying me of a new message. I opened the SMS and I could not my eyes when I saw that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account that GiveDirectly had promised us. I was so happy that my children noticed it. They asked me what was going on and I told them the good news. They were so happy too and we celebrated together giving thanks to God. I now knew that I was going to be able to fulfill the plans that I had made.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a very big difference in my life and that of my family. I now have a cow of my own which is going to provide us with milk that my children can consume when it calves. I am also happy to see my maize, beans, and vegetable crops doing well at the farm. My children are happy because they got new clothes to wear for themselves. I also managed to buy some for myself and we thus now look good like other people out there. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for supporting us.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent KES 30000 of my recent transfer on buying a cow. I bought them because I didn't have my own. I was hence lacking a source of milk for my children to consume. My mother-in-law has thus been supplying us with some milk which is only enough for preparing the morning tea. It has always been my wish to buy a cow of our own but I didn't have the money. I usually grow vegetables and sell them to earn a living. When I am not doing my farming, I usually do casual work farming on other people's farms to earn some extra money. The money that I get paid and that from the sale of vegetables, usually help me in meeting the basic needs of my household. I also managed to buy maize and bean seeds for planting where I spent a total of KES 5200 buying them. I also bought two bags of maize for our consumption at KES 7400 and clothes for myself and the children which costed a total of KES 8000. With the remaining transfer amount of about KES 5000, I used it on paying school fees for my child in secondary school.
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access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Am an elderly widow of 5 girls and I engage in small- scale business of selling vegetables to restaurants within our shopping center. Three of my children are in secondary school and require school fees amounting to KES 60000 per year. I am unable to pay all this amount in a year from the KES 1500 I get per week. As a result, huge debt has accumulated in the three schools where my children school. Moreover, I have had to sleep on the bare ground with rags of clothing for my lifetime. This is humiliating because I have had frequent back pains as a result of sleeping on the bare ground. Receiving this money, therefore, means the settlement of debt at school and the purchase of a high-density mattress. The purchase of a mattress means l will be able to sleep comfortably at night and have no more back pains .
What is the happiest part of your day?
The vegetables I planted in December last year have brought joy to my life. This is because from the sales I make daily (KES 150) I can bring food to my family and also save some to cater for school fees for my children.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Lack of capital is the biggest challenge am currently facing. Being a widow all the responsibilities of my children and grandchildren are up to me. I sell vegetables on a door-to-door basis to the restaurants within the market, this earns me KES 250 per day. Payment of school fees from this income for my three girls is a challenge to me. More often my children have been absent from school due to my failure to pay school fees. This worries me because their absenteeism may lead to them performing poorly in the future. Lack of capital has also led to food insecurity in my household because I am unable to till as well as acquire seeds to plant in my land.
