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
55000 KES ($456 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
Currently, I do not have any new goals. I wish to focus on farming and dairy-keeping project at home as I support my spouse who does cereal business at the shopping center.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
The majority of the people who received the transfer spent it well. Most build a better houses while others invested in dairy-keeping projects. Since the money was unconditional most the people spent the money according to their needs at that particular time. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly Did not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent KES 40,000 on purchasing a five-month in-calf heifer. This was our priority as a family since we buy milk daily and this is so costly for us. We are a family of six and we spent an average of KES 100 per day on milk. This is a real struggle for us since we do not have a steady source of income. We rely on small businesses and scale farming to earn some daily income. My spouse does cereal business while I do farming at home. The money that we get daily from this is small and it is a struggle to purchase milk daily. Owing a dairy cow has given us hope that we will cut the daily cost of buying milk when it reproduces in the next few months. We will get enough milk for the family and sell the rest to earn an income to meet other basic household needs. The remaining amount of money we spent on food, clothes and other basic needs that we were missing at home. I am so grateful because GiveDirectly has enabled me to fulfil my dream of owning a dairy cow.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($471 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
We felt so happy the moment we received money from GiveDirectly. We were all seated on our usual place taking breakfast and the phone was with my husband. He quickly broke the news once he found out that we had been sent money by GiveDirectly. My children and I broke into a celebratory mood once we received the information. Since we were living in fear of having the money stolen from our Mpesa, I informed my husband that it was important that we withdraw the money and do so as early as possible. We later implemented all the plans that we had without much struggle or disagreements for that matter.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my life is the payment of school fees that we were able to do it time. We have two children who are already in their secondary level of education and making ends meet for these two would have been a toll order for us. We normally rely on proceeds from a small business which I highly doubly if we would have been able to take out children to school comfortably. I am so much happy and grateful to have been part of this life changing program and I look forward to even making our lives better going forward. I do not want to imagine that my child would have had to resort to a local day school or worse still drop out had it not been Givedirectly transfers. I just thank God for this.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 28000 to pay school fees for our son who was joining secondary school. We used the remaining amount to start a small business, buy food and clothes for our children. I thank God that the money came at a time that we were staring at uncertain times especially where we could get enough money to pay school fees for our child. We were contemplating taking him to a local day school where we could afford to pay his school fee. I am happy that we were finally able to settle him in school and we can only look forward to some good performance for him in school. I feel so much indebted to GiveDirectly for this timely help. We also were able to start a cereal selling business with the money that remained and we are happy that the business is picking up quite well. I am looking forward to receiving the second transfer and improving the living standards of my family with it
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am a jobless mother of six relying on my husband's business. I majorly assist in farming and sometimes I go for casual jobs within the village. I have realized family life would not be easy with just a single source of income. I have opted to improve our farming since I am available and we have a small piece of land to carry out. This cash transfer to me means an extra source of income and notorious food. I am planning KES 35000 to buy a dairy cow. This will be an added asset in our farm and with time my farm will be producing milk for our household consumption and sales. I will have cut off our daily expenditures and have offspring which I will keep as our financial securities.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I am a mother of six who struggles to see them happy. My family's good health, peace and happiness is always my priority. In the last six months, my greatest joy is the peace, harmony and good health among my family. Though we have had good farm produce, I am so happy we have not gone to bed with empty stomachs in the recent past.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food insecurity is our major challenge in my family. We had been heavily relying on farming until the outbreak of maize disease more than ten years ago. Since then, we have not gotten good yields to take us throughout the year. I currently spend KES 100 a day on maize flour which is expensive given that I do not have a stable source of income.
