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 ($467 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
Through the second transfer, I managed to construct a visitor's house. Right now, I am planning to ceil it and furnish it with good seats.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, GiveDirectly does everything well. For example, I was able to pay school fees for my kids using the transfers and now they can study without any disturbance.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I am a dairy, poultry, and vegetable farmer. On a good day, I get a total of KES 400 a day from all these entities and this helps in household expenses. My husband also works as a carpenter where he gets KES 12000 a month and this usually caters for school fees and food as well.
Nowadays, my back is relieved from backaches experienced from carrying water. This is because with the second transfer I bought a water tank at KES 14,000 which can store up to 2000 liters of water at a go. I had desired to have a water tank for the last 10 years but couldn't afford it due to school feed burdens.
In addition, I spent KES 10,000 on repayment of my kid's hospital bill which had accrued from the last year. GiveDirectly has also relieved ger which has been prevalent since the maize pandemic started. I, therefore, spent KES 4000 on food. I was also able to pay KES 4000 remedial fees for my kids in high school.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($492 USD)
access_time 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was in the morning and I was in the house having breakfast when I heard my phone ringing to notify me of an incoming message. I stopped to check it and I couldn't believe what I saw. It was an SMS saying that I had received the lump sum transfer from GiveDirectly. I was so happy that I went out to call my neighbor asking her if she had seen the surprise on her phone. She came out with so much joy in her face and she told me that she had seen the good news too. We celebrated together giving thanks to God for the blessing.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a very big difference in our lives. We are now less stressed having been able to achieve to do some things. We no longer have thoughts of where we are going to get the money to build another house. We were also able to buy some food that is going to last us for a while and hence we no longer go hungry. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for the help.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent most of the money that we got from GiveDirectly on building another house. We have been living in a small old house for a long time and the space was no longer enough for my growing family. Our grandchildren usually lack a place to sleep whenever they come to visit. We were not in a position to construct one before because most of the money that we get usually goes to the payment of school fees for our children. We have hence kept on postponing the construction. GiveDirectly has been of great help to us and hence we are so grateful for enabling us to achieve our dream.
Enrolled
access_time 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means a better house for my family. Currently, I live in a mud house that is quite tiresome to smear whenever it's washed up by rain. I plan to convert it to a bricks house that is more permanent and needs little maintenance. I plan to also purchase household items like seats and tables. This will cost me approximately KES 50,000. For the rest of the amount I will pay up school fees for my four children in secondary school.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the afternoon when am done with most of my work. I usually wake up at 6. am, prepare my children for school, carry out the house work and head to the farm. In the afternoon I take a rest as this work gets me very tired.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest is when farm crops started doing poorly ten years ago. There was a big shift in climate that greatly affected farmers. Since then we do not depend on farming as a source of income. At this time I had many children in school. One of my sons also had heart disease since he was twelve years old. Since then is being injected every very costly month. Last month( August) the disease progressed and he had to undergo an operation that cost us up to KES 400,000. It depleted all we had. We are yet to recover financially from this.
