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 7:00pm when I learnt that I had received money from GiveDirectly. Earlier on I had heard one of my sons claim that they had received their share. I waited patiently for mine with a lot of optimism that it was not going to delay so much since almost everyone had received their share. When it finally came, I felt so happy and I later went and withdrew the money as I put it into good use.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving payments from GiveDirectly is the fact that I now feel relaxed and at peace more than I have ever been before. I have been able to organize myself in to the things that I think needs to be done like starting a new business that will help me in raising and meeting the needs of my family well. I intend to start a business of selling roasted maize since this is a business that I had started before but which I had to cut short after I spent all the money on my family. All these plans would not even have come to my mind had I not received money from GiveDirectly. I feel so much empowered and I really do appreciate the support from GiveDirectly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used KES 15000 to pay school fees for my son who is now a form four and used another KES 10000 to buy food and clothes for family. The remainder was used to build a new house to build a new house that is roofed with iron sheets. We were living in a very small grass thatched house that looked so old you could thing it will be down anytime soon. I had not been able to build this house before since I struggled with payment of school fees for my children as well as meeting the basic needs of my seven children yet the work that I relied on was casual labour in people's farms. I thank God that the house is almost complete and this is definitely going to be a constant reminder of the support that I received.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means that I will build a new house and buy a dairy cow. I will spend about KES 30,000 because I currently live in a small hut that doubles up as a kitchen and a place to sleep in, together with my grown-up daughters,one of them has a baby. I will have some privacy if I build another house where I will be sleeping while they share the kitchen. I will then buy a cow at about KES 20,000 as an investment with an expectation that it will mature and produce milk and calves. I am hopeful that having both a new house and a cow will improve my life, a feat I could not achieve while relying on casual jobs to earn a living.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In the last six months, my only cow calved down, bringing the KES 100 per day that I use on buying food for the household. As a result, the constant income provides us with enough food. I feel relieved unlike when I had to spend all my energies on finding and doing menial jobs every day of my life.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Raising school fees and providing food for the household have been the biggest challenges that I currently face. Growing food crops has become unproductive over the years with new incurable diseases such the maize lethal necrosis. I have to rely on constantly doing casual jobs, which pays me about KES 200 per day. This income is barely enough for food let alone paying school fees.
