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.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goal is to start saving with the aim of purchasing a water tank. We live quite a distance from a water point and it is laborsome fetching enough water for household use.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life is knowing that my children study well and with less disturbance in school after settling their school fees. I used to depend on what I got from working as a casual laborer to pay for the only child who was in secondary school then. Right now, I have two children in secondary school and what I get from casual jobs is barely enough to pay for one child. I am happy that what I get from GiveDirectly supplements what I get from casual jobs. This give me joy.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
Our water point is quite a distance from my home. Having to fetch enough water from the river for household use is quite laborsome and this is worse during the dry season. My expectation in the near future is to have a water tank. Having this water tank will ensure that I harvest enough water during the rainy season. This will reduce the number of trips that we have to make to the river and also save on time.
24th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time almost 5 years ago
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Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
In the next four months, I am looking forward to buying a chicken wire. This is in a bid to improve my poultry keeping business. I currently have six chicken that have proven to be so much profitable to us as a family in terms of meeting the basic household needs. Improving the project shall make our lives even better going forward in enabling us meet the cost of the basic household needs without much stress. I plan to do this within the next four months since I have already paid school fees for this term and I shall have accomplished before next term begins.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months is the cow that I have bought after I received my merry go round contribution over the last four months. I was able to accumulate a sum total of KES 10000 and this enabled me to buy a dairy cow. I am hopeful that this cow will grow to its full maturity, reproduce and enable me have milk for both local household consumption while I have surplus for resale. I had not been able to actualize my dream of having a dairy cow since the little income that we got from our daily casual jobs was hardly enough to provide food for the family let a lone save up to buy such an asset. We feel happy that GiveDirectly has enabled us realize our dream much earlier. We are going on with the merry go round having realized that it is one of the best savings plans that will help us realize even bigger dreams.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I expect that my life shall have changed greatly in that I shall have established my poultry keeping business. This is a project that I am so keen at since it will enable me live a much more better live free from borrowing. Its improvement and establishment shall as well mean that I will have room to think about other meaningful investment opportunities.
20th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time 5 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
Now am living a peaceful and better life. I worry less compared to when I only depended on casual jobs. I feel happy after I bought a heifer using money that I received from GiveDirectly. I have also been able to clear my child's school fees. Seeing my child got to school every morning gives me joy. I used to have restless nights when I couldn't meet most of these needs and I almost sank into depression. Since I was a housewife with no investment and my husband depended on casual jobs we were usually overwhelmed with these responsibilities. I am glad this is not the case any more.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
Our next goal is to join hands with other villagers and use part of our transfer to raise money for buying water tanks. The first round we had a similar saving plan which was successful and each one of us now has a heifer. We are planning to buy the water tanks because water has been the biggest crises for us. This will save us from the menace of water shortage, especially during the dry seasons.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
In the last four months, we have been pooling together our transfers with my husband and working together to achieve our family goals. We recently spent the money on paying school fees for our children. The little money which my husband earned from casual has been helping in supplementing our monthly income. We mostly use this money to cater to our daily basic needs such as buying food.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next few months, we will buy a water tank with the savings we have accumulated in our merry-go-round. This will help us save on time and reduce the tedious act of fetching water from a river which is several kilometres from our homestead. I hope having a tank will enable us to store enough water which will sustain us up to the next rainy season.
16th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
Having a large poultry farming project is among the differences that have occurred. I have continued to increase the number of chicken that I keep which has now become a good source of income. I use the money I get from selling eggs to meet my daily needs and that of my family members especially in buying household items such as soap, salt, and cooking fat. The money also helped me to contribute to my children's school fees payment. By doing this, I have greatly relieved my husband who toils every day in a quarry to harvest sand. The money he gots is now enough to feed the family sufficiently unlike before when we would have to prioritize school fees leaving us with insufficient food.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
My new goal is to engage in another savings round in my group in order to see how we will keep saving over the next months. We are meeting this weekend to devise a new way of saving money in order to enable us to do much more over the next four months. I am positive that I will achieve a lot of things through this saving mechanism which would be difficult to achieve using my hard earned daily income.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the savings scheme that I joined when I started to get the transfers. The merry go round group has helped me to save so much money using a part of the transfers. A month ago, I received all the savings and used it to buy a heifer. The heifer is the first livestock I have ever owned. I am so happy and feel very proud that I own livestock which is a very good economic progress. The investment would not have been possible because my income from the little business I do in making and selling ropes would not raise enough to buy one. This heifer will also be a source of income in the future when it starts reproducing as I will be selling some milk to my neighbors and this will have diversified my sources of income.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months, in that, I will have a water storage tank that will help me harvest and store rainwater. I will be using the stored water for domestic use to avoid the long-distance I currently cover every day to fetch water. Hopefully, my heifer will have matured and will be lactating. The milk produced will be an extra source of income for my family unlike now when I have to rely on menial jobs and a small business in rope making which is not sufficient to meet our needs as a family. I will also be able to save the money I would otherwise use in buying milk and I can use this money in case an emergency arises.
12th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time almost 6 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was in that I am independent and have the ability to provide for my family basic needs. Initially, I have always been so stressful of inability to provide for my family due to lack of an income. I do casual jobs and the little was enough to support my family. I rely heavily on my husband is also casual laborer. It has been so stressful to always press for even petty things in the household. I currently stress free since what I get from GiveDirectly, I spent partly in my household basic needs.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
In the next four months to, I don't have a new goal but I want to keep on with merry go round plan.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is the savings I am making monthly through merry go round I joined. It has always been my big dream to own a cow but it has not been possible for me since I am a casual laborer and the daily earnings I get I spend on my household daily expenditure. I currently spend a lot on buying milk for my family consumption and this so stressing. I have had a dream of buying a cow to assist me in milk production for both consumption and sale. Even though I haven't seen my dream come true, I have hopes that the merry go round group I joined will soon enable me be buy one when my turn come. I have a plan of buying one with the lump sum amount I will get from the merry go round. I am so happy to have joined it.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months to come, I expect to be living a happier life. I expect to be owning a cow. This will be my happiness since it is an added asset to my family, I expect to be producing my own farm milk hence will not spend more like now on milk, we will have more for my family consumption. I expect it to multiply in future and this will always be my hope that I will always be able to provide for my family.
7th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 6 years ago
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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that I have been able to save as security for my future life. I am able to own family assets like other families. I see my family living a better life in that we have more food and good acess to basic needs unlike before.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
The new goal that for my life four the next four months is to buy a cow and to build a concrete water thank.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that am hopeful of buying a cow. This is a goal I have had for long but I did have financial ability to achieve it. Since GD transfers came in, I have been saving some money to use it to buy a cow in the new future.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months, I expect my life to be better than today in that I will be having clean water for my family use.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
455 KES ($4 USD)
access_time over 6 years ago
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Do you have any new goals that you didn't have before receiving the transfer?
My new goal after receiving the transfers is to lease a piece of land to plant sorghum. The current size of land that I have is very small hence limits me in farming. The income that I will get from the sorghum after harvesting will really be helpful to me and my family
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
My life is currently different from how it would have been had I not received the transfers in that I am now happy that my daughter is able to be back home early from school to assist me in some household chores since before the transfers she used to arrive home very late
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in the next six months since I am planning to buy a dairy cow. Owning a cow will be a great achievement in my life.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving the transfers is that my life is now stress- free since I have in mind that I will be having an income at the end of every month which will enable me improve my living standards
Enrolled
access_time almost 7 years ago
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Lacking school fees for my children is the biggest hardship i have faced. It is hurting to see my children sent away from school because of fee problem.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Midday is the happiest part of my day because at this time there is no much work to do and most of my day's goals have been achieved.
What are you planning to spend your transfer on?
Am planning to spend my transfer on improving my childrens' education. I will pay school fees with it.
What is the achievement you are proudest of?
Starting up farming is an achievement am proudest in my life. I grow maize, sorghum and this has helped me provide for my family and also educate my children.