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 at 5 pm when I was done with the day's work and looking after my cows as they graze that I thought of checking my phone. I found out that I had a new unread message which I opened. I was pleasantly surprised and happy when I read that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account from GiveDirectly. I hurriedly went back to the house since I was eager to break the good news to my family who was so happy upon hearing it. I then prepared myself and I went to buy special food for them to celebrate the great blessing.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference in our lives as a family. We no longer lack money for buying the small essential household items such as sugar, and soap after we bought some chickens with the transfer money. We can sell the eggs and get money for the items. We are thus happy since our lives are no longer the same as before.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We executed our plans immediately when we got our recent transfer since we had already planned before. We bought another cow at KES 35000 to add to the one cow that we have been rearing. The cow had dried and we were incurring the cost of buying milk for our consumption. We thus decided to buy another one so that we can have a constant supply of milk for our consumption and for sale. Other than the above, we also spent KES 10000 on buying iron sheets. We are planning to build another decent house for our family when we receive our second transfer. We only have one grass-thatched house and our children have grown up. We feel it is about time for them to have their own place to sleep. For the longest time we have been hoping to achieve the above but we were not in a position to since we didn't have money. We do not have stable sources of income since we usually depend on casual jobs to earn a living. We are thus grateful to GiveDirectly for enabling us to achieve our dreams. With the remaining transfer amount, we spent KES 1000 on buying some chickens and KES 5000 on clothes and food.
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access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I intend to spend this money on buying a dairy cow that will give me an income. I will then spend it on farming to produce food for the household. Most of the good dairy cows costs about KES 20,000. From here, I will be able to grow crops mainly, maize, bananas , sugar cane and sweet potatoes. The produce will either be my food or I sell them to get money to spend on other daily needs. I will also build a more descent house because I currently live in an old mud hut. It has been difficult for me to maintain the house since I live alone. Building an iron sheet roofed will make it easy for me.
What is the happiest part of your day?
As a subsistence farmer, I finally managed to harvest a good amount of maize from about one tenth of an acre that I cultivated. I am glad that I have saved enough maize that can last me for about 6 months, allowing me to grow another maize crop again and harvest it before I run out of food.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Currently, I only rely on growing food crops on my farm yet it is not productive anymore. I have to buy other food items to supplement this but again I lack a source of income. If I begin keeping a dairy cow, this problem will have been solved. A dairy cow will provide me with a constant source of income from the sale of milk.
