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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($455 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I did not have a new goal. I had planned on purchasing a dairy cow. This is because I used to buy milk daily and this was so costly for me. I do not have a continuous source of income, I depend on small-scale farming and casual jobs in the village. I had planned for all the transfers before receiving it.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly does well by giving money to the poor in the community to build better house and to buy dairy cows. I do not find anything that GiveDirectly did not do well.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent KES 35,000 on purchasing a dairy cow. I had always wished to own a dairy cow but I did not have the money. The cost of buying milk is so expensive. This was so demoralizing and stressful since I did not have a continuous source of income. Currently, I no longer buy milk and the money that I could have used to buy milk I spent on other household basic items. I spent KES 8,000 on purchasing two sacks of maize. When we received the transfer we did not have enough food in the store. We decided to purchase some food. The rest of the money I spent on clothes and other household items that we did not have. I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has improved our living standards to be much better than before.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($481 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was busy washing at around 5 pm that day. That's when I heard a message alert on my phone. On checking, I confirmed to have KES 55,000 from GiveDirectly. I was very happy and this compelled me to do my washing faster.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the clearance of the motorcycle loan within the shortest time possible. The repayment period would take another one year to complete but GiveDirectly made it easier for us.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I am a mother of three and my husband is a motorcycle taxi rider. We bought a motorcycle last year in September on loan. Since then we have been repaying the loan at a rate of KES 4600 per month. Luckily, when the transfers arrived we spent KES 40,000 on clearance of the motorcycle loan.
Secondly, I spent KES 10,000 on clothing and a mattress because I used to sleep on blankets alone.
Lastly, I spent KES 4,000 on a bag of maize. This will sustain us for the next two months. Initially, we relied on a motorcycle taxi for food and on a good day, we could get up to KES 500 per day. Additionally, we relied on small-scale maize and sweet potato farming for food.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
As a means of getting disposable income for our household use . We had taken a loan at Imarisha Sacco to buy a motorcycle for commercial purposes. We are repaying the loan every month, it is a tall order for us. We hardly get the peace of mind. whatever we generate goes towards settlement of the outstanding amount which stand ak KES 50000 at the moment. We are rarely left with any, other times when we delay in repayment we get threats of the motorcycle being repossessed because it is a security for the loan. Receiving this money therefore, means we will be able to settle all the outstanding loan of KES 50000 and use the remaining amount to buy a dairy cow.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I recently harvested 2 bags of maize from my farm. The harvest was good ,so to say, for sometime now maize farming has not been doing well because of lethal maize necrosis disease that has been ravaging the crop but against the odd I got a good harvest. It brought us alot of joy.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Honestly, we have been having sleepless nights ,thanks for the loan we took from Imarisha Sacco. The motorcycle business is not doing well at the moment ,as a result we are struggling to meet KES 3500 towards loan repayment. Sometimes,we have to borrow from relatives to repay the loan. That is the hardest challenge we are experiencing.
