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.
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
before starting the poultry project, our hope on productivity was so low that we could not imagine ourselves earning from our own projects. We got motivated by the few village members who have been successful in their respective projects. Since we started to date - which is four months ago - we have seen a lot of difference in our household. Everyone is working hard to see the success of the project and we're all full of hope that the project will be as productive as we've projected.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
With the promising results of the poultry project we have started, we now have a new goal to establish dairy farming once the poultry farming gets stable. We have settled on this decision since we have an arable land fit for growing several varieties of dairy deeds. The project will involve every member of our household since it was an idea hatched within the household.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the past four months is the poultry project which I started in our household. This is a promising project which we have seen many starting and running it successfully. Currently, we have 35 improved indigenous chickens after losing around 20 chicks when they were young. Wed decided to adopt deep litter system which is seemingly easy to run and also manageable in small scale. This project to us is bringing a grad deal of a difference to our household since we are set to collect a projected good number of eggs per day which we'll later sell to earn us some income.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I expect to have completed and stabilized the poultry project. At the moment we are planning an expansion plan which will at least accommodate other 100 birds within the cage. This expansion should take us at least three months and in the fourth months we'll be bringing in the chicks. We have an intention to move a bit faster since we started it late and we also hope to pick another important project ahead.
16th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different because I am a happy father having paid school fees for my children and provided sufficiently for the family. This is because I was able to buy foodstuffs for the family whenever I would receive the transfer that would last us for the month. I would then let all my salary be sued in paying school fees. This ensured that my children and the rest of us at home were all well taken care of. Without these transfers, I would have been forced to take some of the money meant for school fees and use it on food. This did not happen this last four months and therefore am a very proud father.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goal is to complete my poultry house project that is now stalled because I was using the money to buy food. When famine struck, I stopped the expansion of my poultry keeping and instead used the money to meet the needs that were pressing at that time. Now that I have harvested maize, I will be continuing with the construction of a nice poultry house over the next four months using the money I received firn GiveDirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference is the fact that I have sufficiently provided for that family over the last four months in which we were stricken by famine. I managed to provide foodstuffs without having to divert money meant for school fees. As a result, my children have been staying in school without disturbances, unlike last year during such hard times when they were almost kicked out. I am so happy to have managed both to feed the family and pay school fees by using the money I received very wisely.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect to have succeeded to complete my poultry house. I will be fully equipped to restart the poultry house because I will be using the money I receive on buying construction materials to its completion. I will be keeping more chicken in the new poultry house in the next six months.
12th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time almost 6 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that my children now live happily unlike before where there was so much inconvenience due to lack of privacy. We also have enough food for the family unlike before where getting food was a big challenge because the little we could earn from our job was not even enough to pay school fees. Right now we have food for the family and we also pay school fees for our children on time.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goals for the next four months is to start poultry keeping project. This project will enable me to earn an extra income by selling eggs at the nearby center. I will also be in a position to save some of the income to buy food for my family and even pay school fees for my children in various school.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I have a spacious house for my son who got married. My son used to live with his brothers in the same room and because he got married I decided to build him his own separate house. I combine my transfer with my spouse's and bought building materials which we used in the construction of the house. According to our culture, a married man should not live with his brothers and his wife in the same room and this was causing inconvenience. They could not live peacefully because there was no privacy in place. When the house was complete my elder son move with his wife to the new house and they are now living happily without any stress like before. We are so grateful for the support.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months in that I will have started the poultry keeping project and this will earn me some to meet additional needs for my family and even to save some amount to pay school fees for my children in school. Paying school fees was a challenge. Im also planning on starting a dairy farming after I have saved some amount from the sales from the eggs. This will enable me to cut the cost of buying milk which had always be costly for me.
6th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 6 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago since I have to build a house for my son. I have also had fewer challenges in providing food for the family.I am a bit releaved because I dont strugle too hard.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goal is to establish a poutlry system.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my life is that I have been able to provide for my families basic needs.I managed to provide food for them thought the past two months.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I will have a huge poultry system that will generate an income from the eggs and meat I will be seeling.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
455 KES ($4 USD)
access_time over 6 years ago
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Do you have any new goals that you didn't have before receiving the transfer?
I am planning to built a poultry house and rear chicken of which I have already started depositing money for buying awire-mesh.
I am also planning to increase number of heifers and improve dairy farming.
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My life is currently different because at the end of the year I will have set up my poultry house project and reared chicken.This is because am assured that these transfers will flow in on a monthly basis.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change because I will have built own poultry house and started rearing my own poultry. In terms of fees I will struggle no more to borrow money because these transfers will come in handy.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that these transfer have helped to reduce pressure for money and there is Increased happiness.This is because I gave KES 200 to my kid as transport back to school and KES 1800 I used as deposit for a poultry wire-mesh worth KES 5000 which I want to use in putting up my poultry house.
Enrolled
access_time almost 7 years ago
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship I have faced in my life is securing feeds for my livestock, sometimes I find it expensive to purchase or even sometimes hard to get the feeds so its really challenging.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is when am back from school in the evening when am helping my children with their homework.
What are you planning to spend your transfer on?
Am planning to use .my transfer to start a poultry farming and to improve my dairy farming from free grazing to zero grazing unit,then the remaining part of it I will use it to pay fee for my three children in secondary and one in college.
What is the achievement you are proudest of?
The achievement am proud of is having a stable family and see my children through their education with no difficulty.