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?
Receiving the transfers from Give Directly meant so much to me as I have never received such a huge amount of money. I received the cash when I was outside the compound looking after the animals.I heard mpesa notification ringing in my phone, upon checking , I had to rush home so as to notify my family, who had to join me in celebrating as we were in financial crisis.
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 can get regular and balanced diet from my farm like fresh vegetables, maize and onions. Unlike before, when I used to cultivate the farm manually, I could only concentrate on certain kinds of crops to plant due to lack of resources.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I do subsistence farming for a living. I used to do farming manually as I had no enough money to hire the labour. With the transfers, I used Kshs 50,000 to buy the cows, to help in cultivating the farm. Farming is now simple unlike before the transfers where I would take a very long time cultivating the farm.
I used Kshs 5,000 to buy food as getting regular and balanced diet has been the greatest challenge to me and my family.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Due to lack of School fees my son is still at home waiting for her Sister to complete her Studies after which he can join. He dropped in form two because I don't have any means of raising school fees. I was keeping goats for support but that is not the case now. several of them died during the dry season, I sold the remaining to clear some fee arrears for my daughter but still have fee balance, Thanks for this programme, I now have hopes of clearing all the fee balance of 30000 KES and having my son back in school after receiving the Second transfer.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My daughter got married five years ago, her husband died after getting their firstborn. I was left with my grandchild to take care of. Her mother had lost hope of marrying again. She was alone in grief for a long time and was worried about her. I am happy that three months ago she passed over this and brought home her fiancee for the introduction.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I have been feeling pain in my urinary tract for three months. I went to the hospital last week and the diagnosis left me in fear of death. The doctor said I had cystitis which can easily spread to my kidneys if it is not treated. It has since been very painful in passing urine and very little urine, I am no longer comfortable around my friends with frequent urination which sometimes wets my pants. I feel low on myself and prefer to Isolate myself. I would wish to get better so that I can go back to the old me.
