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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($517 USD)
access_time 4 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My life is different from how it would have been had I not received the transfer because I now live in a more decent and spacious house. I had never imagined that I would one day be able to build a bigger house since I knew that I needed a lot of money to achieve this and I do not have any source of income.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, GiveDirectly did well by uplifting our lives in different ways and I do not see anything that they did not do well.
What did you spend your second transfer on?
When I received my second transfer, I decided to build a spacious kitchen for my family since the one I had was always leaking. Also, I decided to fence my farm so that my neighbors livestock will not be invading my farm to destroy my crops anymore. Apart from this, I gave my spouse some amount so that he could use it to expand his business by restocking it. I spent the remaining amount to buy food for my family.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($540 USD)
access_time over 4 years ago
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Describe the biggest difference in your daily life.
It had always been my prayer to build a spacious house that can accommodate all my family comfortably. My spouse and I had not been able to achieve or even save some money to use in achieving it due to the lack of an adequate source of income. I lived in one house that acted as our kitchen as well as a living room. As a result of this, I always shied of inviting my friends or welcoming visitors as they had to stay in a smoky house. Being able to achieve my long-desired goal of building a spacious house for my family is the biggest difference in my daily life. This has greatly changed my life as it has brought back my lost self-esteem in society. We currently enjoy the comfort that had faded away in our family.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I realized that GiveDirectly had sent us the promised money in the morning after waking up. My heart was filled with happiness as I read through the Mpesa message on my phone the second time. This money gave me hope that I would be able to achieve my life goals that had seemed impossible to achieve before.
What did you spend your first transfer on?
I spent part of my first transfers to buy barbed wire, poles, and nails to use in fencing my compound. We decided on this to prevent my crops on the farm from being destroyed by some livestock passing on the road if no one was at home. Also, I built a decent spacious house that can accommodate all my family comfortably. I settled on this since the one we were living in was a small one-room grass-thatched house that would not host us comfortably. Due to this, my children always used to spend their nights at their grandmother's house. I used the remaining amount to buy one sack of maize flour, new clothes, and shoes for my family.
Enrolled
access_time over 4 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Our extended family (parents-in-law,four sons and their families) lives in an acre piece of land.Everyone has a family to take care of and when this farm is subdivided into five so that each gets a place to till,what we get is not even enough to feed my family.There is also often lots of conflict because we are all crowded on a small area.Receiving this money therefore gives me an opportunity to buy another piece of land where I can farm in and be able to provide food for my children.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the evening.This is the time that I have completed my work for the day and have ensured that my family has a meal for the day.It makes me happy because despite all the challenges I face through the day mainly caused by insufficient resources (land),am still able to struggle and provide for my young family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Living in this small piece of land with all of our families i.e. each of my three brothers-in-law and their families as well as their parents has always been the biggest hardship I have faced.There is always conflict mostly about the land we do our farming in.It is hardly enough to feed us and we have been forced to do casual jobs to substitute it.I have always wished that I could get some money so that my family can move out and have our own but this has been made impossible by the fact that what I get from casual jobs directly goes to buying food and other needs and I do not get to save
