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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.
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Enrollment
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Transfers
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Completed
Newsfeed > Chepkorir's Profile
Chepkorir's family
Chepkorir
landscapeCountry:
kenya
workOccupation:
Small business
faceAge:
33
workCampaign
Kenya Large Transfer
There will be no further updates from this completed recipient.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
After receiving all the transfers and ensuring the completion of all the projects I had in the book I felt good and grateful that I never run short. At the moment I have a new goal to construct a new permanent house that will replace the semipermanent one that we had been living in with my family of four. I have been looking for ways to raise some money to obtain enough bricks first, then other materials will follow as I will be doing it in phases.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly gave every household a chance to fulfill their dreams without being pressured to spend the money in a certain way. In my opinion, this was the best decision ever since the challenges experience in every home within the village vary and could only be addressed by those who are affected when facilitated. I am grateful for everything only that I felt some members of the village including a disabled mother were left out with the promise to be revisited but the officer never came back.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
As a businesswoman, I am always keen to ensure that the stock is not only maintained in my shops but also increased whenever I get any extra cash. After strictly spending the first transfer on all that I had enlisted, I had to inject KES 3000 into my retail business and boost the float in my Mpesa that I had been running alongside. I am happy to have brought in all that customers had been asking for and able to allow them to withdraw more cash from the Mpesa as well. Even though I had been running this business with the support of my husband, all the savings have been going to a common account that enabled us to obtain a dairy cow worth KES 53000 after topping the remaining KES 25000 with part of the savings. Since then we are no longer buying milk like before but selling the surplus to the cooling plant that pays an accumulated amount at the end of every month. It is a great feeling seeing such a great change within a short time in our household that has given us hope of growing it bigger with the current savings we are making from the income we receive from the sale of milk.
 
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($507 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
The moment I received the transfer I felt so happy. I remember vividly like yesterday. It was around 9 am in the morning when I heard a ringtone message from my phone. I didn't expected any messages from anyone and I thought it was just a mere alert messages. Little did I know it was from GiveDirectly. When I checked the message I was so happy. I immediately inform my family members, they were also happy. We immediately plan on how to spent the money and the first priority was a dairy cow I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly enabled us to own assets which could have taken quite some time.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that I have bought a dairy cow. I used to buy milk daily and this was so costly for me. I do small scale farming and I also operate a small retail shop. The profit that I get from this is so small and cannot meet all the household expenditure including paying school fees for my children. I didn't had another source of income neither did I had savings to enable me to buy a dairy cow. When I received this transfer I found it wise to invest on dairy farming. This has enabled me to cut the daily cost of buying milk from my neighbors which was so expensive for me. Currently I am able to save some money which I could have used to buy milk to pay school fees for my children in various schools. I have also devoted much of my time to this amazing dairy project. I hope to see it grow and learn from it. I also wished to own more that three dairy cows in the next two years. This will be my main source of income since I will be selling the surplus milk to earn an income. I am so happy because GiveDirectly has changed my living standard and given us hope to improve our living standard of our next generation.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent half of the money I received from GiveDirectly on adding stock to my existing retail shop business. This earns me a profit which I used in meeting other additional basic household items for my family including paying school fees for my children.The other half of the money I bought a dairy cow. This enabled me to cut the daily cost of buying milk which is so expensive. My family now get enough milk and I sell the surplus.
 
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
 
What does receiving this money mean to you?
My spouse and I took a bank loan of Ksh 500,000 last year to buy a piece of land and a part of it start up a business.We then opened a mobile money shop in a nearby center.The Ksh 15000 monthly salary he earns from his job at the Mara conservancy is only enough to meet our family expenses i.e school fees for our children at a private school nearby as well as food and other recurring basic needs.This means that the entire loan facility repayment is dependent on this small business.It will take us two years to clear the loan considering that in a month we only make a profit of Ksh 7000 on average.I have always wished that we could earn more and increase the monthly repayment amount so that we can be free from that debt sooner and allow us to focus on other investments.This is an opportunity for us to add more funds into the business so that we can earn more-and I will not let this God-sent opportunity slip.I intend to use the entire transfer on the same if we are lucky to be beneficiaries.
What is the happiest part of your day?
On most days,I spend a good part of the day at the mobile money shop.I have developed a passion for business and specifically this one.This is because I have witnessed how much I can earn in a month and be able to offset our bank loan hence earning us the financial freedom we have always wished to have as a family.This being the line of business that I love,am therefore happiest whenever I am at my business premise.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Early this year, my mobile money business suffered a setback after we lost Ksh 22000 to fraudsters. Since then, I have not had enough money to cater for the current demand since my shop is the only one in operation at the center. We were left without much options since we already have a bank loan and it was not advisable to take up another when the business was struggling.Because of this,we had to struggle to raise the monthly repayment amount since then by cutting down on the amount we spend on basic needs that the family would otherwise use in a month.This has been the biggest hardship I have faced.