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?
I was doing my usual conductor job when I received my transfer somewhere around Gbojay community. I hit the plank truck out of joy and the driver stopped thinking that I was stopping him for something else. He asked me what happened, I happily told him Givedirectly sent my share of the money. I expected him to get angry as usual, but her rejoiced with me because he saw how excited I was. I kept smiling throughout the day and I must say how grateful I am to Givedirectly.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the issue of me having money to do things for myself. I now have power in my pocket. I can buy anything I want to buy because I have money.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I bought clothes and shoes for myself. I helped my sister with school fees and also gave some money to my big brother to treat his illness.
Enrolled
access_time 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I plan to build a house with the transfer because I don't want to be paying rent again and to also live a comfortable life and lastly; to buy a motorbike. In this house that I am living, I have to pay rent at the end of every month. And the worse thing is that, it is not every month that I can be financially potent to pay my rent when the month ends.When you look at the house, it is not even in a good condition and worse of all, it leaks when there is rain falling. So when I receive this transfer, I will firstly build a house for me to live in and be very comfortable.
The next thing I will want to do with the transfer is to buy a bike for myself and use it for transportation purpose. I used to ride bike but had an accident and that is why I don't ride bike these few days.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In the last six months, what brought me joy and happiness was when I was working with a Ghanaian gold miner. During this time on the job, I was handling good amount of money that used to take care of all my needs. I used to get about US$100-150.00 weekly. During this time, I was very happy because I was able to take care of myself and not depending on anyone.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
One major challenge I am currently facing is getting food for myself. Though I have family members in this town but I have to normally provide food for myself. Because of getting food, I have to hustle hard before getting money to find food. I had a weekly schedule wherein I hauled planks from Monday to Friday and used the remaining days to ride bike just to get something to survive on and pay my rent when the month ends.
