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 11am when I was lying on my bed not feeling well, when I received a message in my phone. I stretched my hand to take my phone from the table so as to read the message. For a while, I remained dumb for what I saw in my phone. GiveDirectly had sent me a huge amount of money amounting to KES 55000.00. I was filled with joy and my found myself singing on the bed yet I was not feeling well.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my life is that I am now rearing goats. Initially I used to see livestock from the neighbour’s places and I felt I should own mine one day, thus GiveDirectly came and fulfilled my dream.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Receiving this amount meant changing the image of my homestead. I 1st bought 7 goats for KES 28000.00 and I am now a happy herder something I desired in my life. Having children who are in school, I took some amount and paid school fees for them. I have 1 child who is in college, 2 are in secondary and 3 in primary school
I also bought some pieces of iron sheets to renovate the roofing of my house and kept the rest for family upkeep.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means building a new house. I have been living in a temporary structure after my house collapsed two and half years ago. I have a family of six children who sleep in the same structure. What worries me most is the condition of the house we currently live in. The iron sheets we recovered from the collapsed house were used for roofing and as a wall at the same time. This makes it very difficult to sleep in the house especially during cold weather. My children are exposed to disease like pneumonia but since I have no money, I cannot achieve my dream of building a two bedroom house. This is because, I depend on my livestock to milk the cows and sell in the village to earn an income. However, this has not been possible due to the persistent drought in our village. Upon receiving this money, I will be able to build my own house which will cost me 50000KES. I will then use the remaining amount to buy goats which survive in harsh weather conditions like drought.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I have no specific time that I become happy. This is because due to the longer periods of drought that has affected my livestock makes me walk long distances to graze them. Getting a place to graze our cows is another challenge because majority of the people in the village own cows. This makes me sad as I have nowhere to graze my animals. The only time I become happy is when I get a place where my livestock can get water and graze.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Persistent drought in our village is the biggest hardship that I have ever faced in my life. I depend on livestock to get money to meet the basic needs of my family. Two years ago I had 600 cows as my wealth and the major source of income. However, I lost 500 cows due to drought and famine in our village. It was very painful for me to see my cows die one after the other helpless. This made my life difficult as I have children in school who need to access basic education. When this happened, I sold 20 cows to pay school fees for my children. I am now left with 80 cows which are very weak. At once I thought of selling them but then no one is willing to buy such cows. This has made life more difficult for me and my family. I intend to use some of the cash transfers to buy goats instead of cows because goats can survive longer periods of drought.
