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?
It was around 6 pm while attending a weekly church fellowship in the neighborhood. That's when I heard neighbors happily whispering they had received their transfers. Since I don't know how to read and write I held my peace until I reached home. Where I gave the phone to my helper who confirmed that I had received KES 55,000 from GiveDirectly. I was very happy and my helper withdrew the money a few days later.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life since I received the transfers is the purchase of a heifer. This will not only be a source of milk but income for my family. For a long time, I desired to buy one but couldn't afford it.
Secondly, through the transfers, I have a water tank that can store volumes of water for a longer time. As a result, the stress of waking up early for the river and carrying water on my back is no more.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I have been buying two liters of milk paid every month for the past year. This was quite unreliable. At times I could not afford it. I was therefore forced to cook porridge for breakfast for my six kids. Therefore when I received my transfers, KES 25,000 was spent on a heifer. This will be a source of milk for my family once it reproduces.
Secondly, KES 17,000 was spent on a 2300 liters water tank. This has helped in the storage of rainwater hence reducing the stress of ferrying water back from a river half an hour away. Before I used to wake up early to fetch clean water and this affected my health because it caused me to suffer from chest, waist, and leg pains. But this has reduced with the coming of GiveDirectly transfers.
Lastly, KES 3,000 was spent on food and household items. With GiveDirectly transfers I was able to buy wheat flour and beef which we couldn't afford before and we enjoyed it with my family.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means a good shelter for my family. We live in an old mud-walled house for which the walls have cracked. Walking for 2 Kilometres in search of clay soils for use in house repairs is hectic and tiresome to me.I broke my waist because of the weight of soil I carried last year and this has forced me to leave the house untidy.I am glad that I will be able to build a house made of timber with this money at a cost of KES 45000.
What is the happiest part of your day?
We harvested 4 bags of maize in our one-acre piece of land in the past 2 months.Despite getting these little yields we have been happy because the amount of expenses per day has reduced.Currently, we buy manufactured goods only and this has allowed us to save the amount that would have been spent on buying maize.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I am a small-scale farmer with 2 acres of land. My main source of income has been farm yields but this has recently been affected by diseases. In the past 10 years, we used to pay schools fees using the commodities from our farm. The failure of crop yields has led to numerous debts within different schools and institutions and this is a big challenge for me.
