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?
In the morning while I was taking my breakfast I decided to check my cell phone and I had one Short message received. It was Mpesa notification indicating that I had receive KES 55000 from Give Directly. Upon realizing the good news, I became so happy, prayed silently and asked God to continue blessing GiveDirectly so that they would continue touching other people's lives.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
A lot has greatly changed in my life since I received my first transfers. As a farmer, I invested part of the money on dairy farming and planting some crops. In the farming sector, I am currently a proud farmer, having both livestock and subsistence farming doing very well. I am very certain that in the near future that I will not be buying food as I got empowered and planted some food crops. Also I cut my daily expenditure as we now have milk from our own dairy cow, we use to buy milk for use which was so costly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Upon receiving my first transfer from GiveDirectly, I spend a large portion of 35000 KES on buying a lactating cow and a calf, this was necessary to our household since we had been buying milk for such a long time and this was the only way we could stop it. I also bought ten chicken for rearing each 350 KES. I invested in poultry so that I would have some eggs for sale and have some money for buying other family necessities. Part of the remaining amount, I spend to buy two sacks of maize worth KES 7000, I also spend KES 5000 on ploughing a piece of land and buying some farm inputs and the rest I gave to my husband to boost his business in a food kiosk which he runs in a nearby shopping centre.
Enrolled
access_time over 4 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
We have been struggling to buy milk for home consumption since we don't own any cow. We normally use one litre of milk a day which cost between $0.3 and $0.4 a litre yet my husband is a shopkeeper and earns meagre income in a month. Receiving this money therefore mean we will be able to own a cow and improved health of my family members.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the evening. Since I am a house wife, my day entails preparing my school going child who is primary school early in the morning after which I will attend to other household chores such as washing utensils, preparing food among other household chores up to late in the evening. I feel relaxed mostly in the evening after accomplishing my duties as a mother as well as a wife to my husband.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Owing to change of climate in our area, life has become hard since we have been unable to harvest sufficient maize to sustain our family. Even though we have planted maize in our 0.25 of an acre, we are hoping to at least harvest one sack for domestic consumption. Climate change has been the biggest hardship we have faced in life.
