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 morning hours at around 10 am and I was busy farming when I heard my phone vibrating in my pocket. I took it out to check what it was all about and to my surprise, it was an SMS saying that I had received the lump sum transfer of KES 55000 that GiveDirectly had promised. I was filled with so much joy on seeing this that I stopped what I was doing for a while to celebrate. I couldn't keep the good news to myself and I called my husband who had gone out to look for work. He was so happy too to hear this and we gave thanks to God for the blessing.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference that the transfer has brought in our lives is that we no longer have to worry about what we are to eat a lot. We were able to buy some food that is going to last us for a while and therefore we do not have worries in case we don't get a casual job.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent the better part of the transfer in buying a cow. We wanted to have a cow because we incur the cost of buying milk everyday. A litre of milk goes for KES 50 and this is costly to us considering the fact that we depend on casual jobs to earn a living. These casual jobs are not always available and whenever we get one, we use most of the money that we earn in buying food. This dream of owning a cow has only been possible because of the blessing from GiveDirectly and hence we are so grateful.
Enrolled
access_time 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money will relieve me from the stress I go through when it comes to paying school fees for my son in Secondary School. I have to pay about KES 20,000 at the moment but its is difficult because I do not have a source of income, other than the subsistence farming that I practice. I will spend part of the transfers on school fees and buying a dairy cow that will make me an income from selling milk. I will also be able to start a small business of selling maize and beans here at home.Both these two sources of income will bring me about KES 500 per day. This means that I will be able to meet my daily household needs and use the remaining amount to pay school fees.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Morning is the happiest part of my day. When I wake up, I focus on tilling my farm and tending to the cow that I won. This activities, means that I will end up making an income for my household from selling vegetables and milk to take care of the household foodstuffs needs. Being productive, this way in the mainly in the morning hours makes happy.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The biggest hardship that I face is financial constraints. I rely on casual jobs working on other people's farms. it pays about KES 100 per day, and are hard to find. this is barely enough for foodstuffs besides having school fees to pay. I plan to spend part of the transfers, about KES 20,000 to pay school fees for my son, and this will relieve me from straining too much.
