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 ($465 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?
My new goal is to buy a generator to harvest water from the nearest main source of water. I am working towards achieving this by having a savings plan. I save two hundred shillings per day on a good day and at least fifty shillings on a bad day.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
Givedirectly did great from the first day up to the last day. The transfer has immensely improved my standards of living from house construction, my family getting enough meals, and many others. I do not have to complain.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Upon receiving my second transfer, I spent Kshs.28,000 in constructing a new house. The house I had before was grass-thatched and it would leak during the rainy seasons. I am happy now since the house is already complete and we have already moved in. With kshs.12,000 I used in purchasing two sheep. This investment is helpful since it will multiply once it has given birth and can use to cater for school fees for my five children. With the remaining amount, I used to buy clothes and food for my family members.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($497 USD)
access_time 3 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I received a call around 9:30 am from my wife who was so excited that she was shouting unusually on the phone. I had to give her time to calm down before sharing the news she had for me. She first picked by asking me whether I had checked my phone, but since I had been busy all along, I had not gotten a chance to read incoming messages. She informed me that GiveDirectly had sent us the money we were promised some weeks ago. I had to check it immediately and on the confirmation, I called her back feeling excited that we had finally received the support we had been waiting for. I had to be fast in what I was doing that day as I needed to report at home a bit earlier. We had all plans in place and the construction of a new house for my children was a priority as they had been sleeping in a cold room due to the leaking roof.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
My children have been suffering a lot sleeping on damp floors especially during the rainy seasons as the leaking kitchen was the only available space for them to sleep every night. The construction of a new house that is currently going on is the biggest difference in my daily life as my children's health will not worry me anymore. They will at least be living in a warm room that is spacious enough to accommodate them. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for the great support, and I am still looking forward to the second transfer as it will enable me to establish other new projects.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
With the first KES17300 of my transfer, I spent it on obtaining four goats and a sheep. This investment in livestock is geared towards raising future school fees for my children as it is the easiest saving plan when there are enough fields to graze on. I also obtained 22 iron sheets at KES16500 in preparation to demolish the old kitchen and put up a new structure that is spacious enough to serve both as a kitchen and with a partition for my children who had been sleeping under a squeeze and leaking roof to sleep in. I am glad that I have been able to assemble all the construction materials and the work will be commencing soon. I also obtained a sack of maize as foodstuff that will serve my family of seven for at least two months before buying more, and finally decided to save the remaining KES 14000 that I will use in paying the labor charges on the construction work.
Enrolled
access_time over 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I have always wanted to change my life and live a good life. My family solely depends on me from the ksh 300 that I earn daily. I am a tractor driver and my job is seasonal,the peak season is when people are planting and in low seasons like this I hardly get jobs to do. I want to build a good house for my family to live in,God has blessed us with a newborn baby who is a month old. Its very cold inside the house and I fear he may get pneumonia.I plan on building a good house with Ksh 30,000 then buy 10 sheep at 3000 each ,and buy two dairy cows at 25,000 each.This will give me 10 litres of milk per day which I will sell for Ksh 300 .This woul mean we will have a stable source of income and we will live a better life.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My happiest part of my day is in the evening when i come back home to my family after a hard day's job. Being a tractor driver,I spend most of my day ploughing people's farms. It is in the evening when i get to rest after a long day working.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
It has been close to 7 years since I had a good harvest from my farm. Its unfortunate that we live in a semi arid area and rain hardly falls, when I plant maize it does not do well and each year I count losses because I spend alot of money in ploughing land,purchasing planting seeds and fertilizer. I am forced to buy maize so that my family can get something to eat as it is our staple food. I find it expensive buying maize in comparison with if I could plant and harvest in plenty because I have large piece of land.