Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
On that fruitful day when I received my transfer, it was around 3 p.m. I had just come back from my farm, where I was guarding my crops from roaming livestock since our farm is not fenced. While I was relaxing with my children and mother-in-law, I heard a notification sound. When I checked, I saw that I had received $200 from GiveDirectly. I immediately prayed to thank God. Excited, I shared the news with my mother-in-law and waited patiently for my husband, who had gone to herd our livestock. When he returned that evening, I told him about the transfer, and he was equally excited. The first thought that crossed my mind was to buy food. We had no food that day, and honestly, I didn't know what I would have done without GiveDirectly's cash transfer. Thank you, GiveDirectly, for your timely support in our time of need.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest life difference I've experienced after receiving GiveDirectly's cash transfers is mostly on food. Having food was no longer a challenge for us. For the past ten years, my husband and I have fully relied on casual jobs to put food on the table. However, with the first transfers, we were able to take a break from casual jobs for about a month. This was the first time we could rest without worrying about where our next meal would come from. During this period, I stayed home and focused on household chores while my husband looked after our livestock. Although we eventually returned to casual jobs, the transfers we are awaiting gives us hope. We plan to invest in income-generating activities and move away from relying solely on casual work. The cash transfers have provided us with a sight of hope and a better life. Thank you, GiveDirectly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
My husband and I rely on casual jobs to sustain our family, although we sometimes engage in small-scale farming. However, farming is seasonal and unreliable. Additionally, securing casual jobs is not guaranteed, and there are times when we don't find any work, making it a nightmare to meet our daily basic needs, such as food. As a result, we would sometimes skip meals due to a lack of food. When I received my first transfer from GiveDirectly, my priority was to buy food. I purchased a bag of maize for $33 and spent an additional $50 on other food items to sustain us for a while. Furthermore, I bought a mattress for $47 for my husband and me, as our old mattress was so uncomfortable that it felt like we were lying on a board, causing back pain. We gave the old mattress to our children, supporting it with the one they already had. Our two children in junior secondary school needed game kits, which the school had requested since the beginning of the year, but I didn't have the money. Thanks to GiveDirectly, I was able to buy each of them a kit for $14. Finally, I purchased clothes for all of us, except for the two children for whom I bought game kits. The last time we bought new clothes was a year ago, so you can imagine the condition of the ones we had been wearing. I used the remaining funds for transportation. Thank you, GiveDirectly.