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.
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
Since my son is almost completing his schooling, I would have time to save my next transfers and spend to buy food in bulk for the family. This would take us for some few weeks which would also give me time to rest and save part of the money which I earn from casual jobs.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
In the past four months, I have been spending part of the transfers on buying food items for the family. Through this, I have managed to save earnings from casual jobs and spend on paying school fees for my son. I am happy now that I completed paying his school fees on time and he is now sitting for his final exams. He had time to prepare well and believe that he will perform well since he was not sent home like before.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
In the next few months, I am thinking of purchasing vegetable seeds so that I would raise and plant during the next rainy season. I intend to plant so that when I get to harvest and sell I would raise money for supporting my family. This would relieve me from strenuous casual jobs which I do engage to meet my household expenses.
16th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($22 USD)
access_time 5 years ago
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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 be having enough sleep. This is because my commitments will have reduced hence I will not be overworking myself as I will have cleared paying school fees for my son who is in his final year in secondary school education. I am planning to stop doing casual work which majorly includes picking tea in other peoples farms so that I can concentrate on my own farm.
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 I no longer struggle a lot in order to get money to use in providing for my family. I can proudly say that GiveDirectly's support has helped me achieve this. Due to this, I am now stress-free as I no longer worry about how to get more money to use in supporting my family. Because of this, my health has improved and I am now looking younger.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
The additional goals for my life for the next four months is to buy hybrid vegetable seeds to plant. When I sell the vegetables, I will get more money compared to what I invested in. I will use the money on other investments which will generate income to my family.
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 build a house for my son. I used the saving that I was given in our group to achieve this. I am now glad since my son now sleeps at home and I no longer worry about his safety at night when he goes to sleep. In addition to this, he has been able to get enough time for his revision in the evening and it has made his performance greatly improve.
12th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time over 5 years ago
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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 cleared paying school fees for my son. This will also enable me to start saving some money to use in building a house for my family. Currently, we are living in a small and old house and whenever I have a visitor, I will have to ask for accommodation from my neighbor.
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 I now do some casual work until two o'clock unlike before when I used to work till late in the evening. I now have some time to work on my own farm so that I can produce enough food for my family. This is because I use my transfers to pay for my son's school fees and I only do casual work in order to get money to use in buying basic needs for my family. I am now happy since my son is no longer being sent back home to collect school fees because I now pay on time.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
The only goal I now have is to clear paying school fees for my son who is in high school so that he will have ample to time to revise his examinations. I do not want him being sent back home for this will affect his studies since he will lose some time staying at home.
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life currently is different from how it was four months ago since my family now enough food. This is because I have been able to balance between paying my son's school fees and buying food for my family due to the support I now receive. I also do not overwork hence I sleep peacefully at night because I do not get too tired nowadays.
7th Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 USD)
access_time 6 years ago
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How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
I expect my life to change in that I will not be doing some casual work anymore since I will be concentrating with horticultural farming.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.
My biggest difference in my daily life is happiness since i do not stress my self a lot thinking of where to get money to support my family with.
Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?
The new goals I now have is to buy some chicken and plant some vegetables so that I can sell them later.
How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?
My life currently is different since I now days do not overwork myself.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
2280 KES ($23 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?
I have come up with an idea to join a group to pool the money together.I started to think of this pooling because the money comes in bits but i will be able to receive a lot of it at once since I will be last one in the group to receive the contributions.
How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I no longer have to do manual jobs.I simply organize my money to work for me.I studied economics when i was in school so i am a good in planning and use of money.I have been having many children in school so it forced me to work all the time in manual jobs and spend everything i earned.currently,I take time to rest in my compound because i have less burden and another help from the transfers that i receive from GiveDirectly..
How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?
In the next six months ,I will have reduced the amount of manual work that I do.I will have received the tea farm I leased out back from the tenant.I did this in order to get money for paying my children school fees but the lease period is ending in may 2018.I am happy I will have it back for my own use.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my life is that I have an additional source of income.I used to rely on my Job in tea prunning which strained me as I had to work long hours daily in order to have sufficient money.Since receiving this money ,I started to work for normal hours.I work until noon,take lunch and then take a rest.For the last twenty five years i have never had lunch breaks and such time to rest after working.This transfers have really changed my life.
Enrolled
access_time over 6 years ago
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship in my life is raising school fees for my children
What is the happiest part of your day?
I am always happy, my children have succeeded in life have a long struggle to raise school fees for them.
What are you planning to spend your transfer on?
I am planning to use my transfer to pay school fees for my child who is in high school.
What is the achievement you are proudest of?
The greatest achievement I am always proud of is having good health and ability to still do my work since 25 years ago