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 almost 5 pm and we had just finished a SACCO meeting. We were about to head back home when suddenly my phone rang together with those of the people that we were coming from the same village. I pulled it out from the pocket and I checked what the SMS could all be about. I was surprised when I read that I had received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly. I was so happy and we celebrated with my fellow community members who had also received the same SMS. We thanked God for the blessing. I then immediately called my husband who was also so happy when I informed him about what had transpired.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference into our lives as a family. We managed to buy the water tank that we have always wanted. We hence no longer make the long tedious trips to the river to fetch water since it has rained and we collected rainwater for our household use. Other than that, we also have enough food to eat and the children are happy because they have new clothes.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 25000 of the recent transfer on buying a water tank. It has always been our wish to buy one because when there is drought in our area, we are forced to go to a very far river to fetch water, which is very tedious. Most of the nearby rivers usually dry up and we did not have money for buying the water tank. I am a small-scale subsistence farmer while my husband is a mason. The masonry jobs are not always available and when he manages to get one, the money that he gets paid, mostly at the end of the week is what we usually use in buying food and household items that can sustain us until he gets the next pay. Other than that, we also spent KES 2300 on buying a 20-liter spraying pump. The cattle dip is quite far and at times we fail to take the cows there on time. We thus usually borrow a spraying pump from the neighbors when this happens. We also spent KES 4700 on buying a big cooking pot and a big kettle. We usually have guests frequently visiting our household and hence we usually borrow those utensils. We also used another KES 1500 on paying school fees for our children. With the remaining transfer money, we used it on buying food, clothes for the children, a bed, a mattress, and we also bought some cement and sand. We used the building materials to finish the construction of a part of the house. We also constructed a flat surface for placing the water tank. We are thus grateful to GiveDirectly for their help.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I have a business that am currently running to help us as a family to meet our needs but I feel that I could earn more profits in this business if I could invest more money into it. We have a stock count of approximately KES. 20,000 and we earn a profit of KES. 2,000 monthly. I feel that if we could expand it more to a stock count of about KES. 100,000 we shall be able to have profits of KES. 10,000 monthly. This will surely change our lives. My husband will not have to stay away in town looking for house construction jobs anymore. I am so happy because we shall get to parent our young children together also.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My shop was selected by Coca-cola company to run a promotion for it's customers in this area. It was the only shop that was selected around this place despite many other businesses applying to be selected. This brought me a lot of happiness because I got to make a lot of sales and more profits.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I am currently undergoing the challenge providing sufficiently for our family. We work so hard together with my husband to make ends meet but the stock in the business limits our potential. The house construction jobs in town also are so scarce and the demand for house construction services has generally gone down since the year 2020 when COVID-19 pandemic struck. This has affected our income so much and we can't really do much about it.
