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?
I felt so happy the moment I received money from GiveDirectly. It was around 6:00pm when I saw a message from GiveDirectly indicating that I had received a sum of KES 55000. I was attending a function within the village and I did not share the news with anyone until I got home and shared with my husband. He was equally so happy to learn that we had received the money and he helped me in planning and implementing all our plans.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is that we are now happier than we were before receiving the transfers Because of the many investments that we have made, we feel more empowered and happier as a family than we have ever been before.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We used KES 40000 to buy a dairy cow and used the remaining amount to buy building materials. We made a decision to buy a dairy cow since we had lost one after a short illness yet we knew how important such livestock investment would be to us. As for the house, we made a decision to build a new house since the one that we owned was too small and a grass thatched hut. This was getting too small for my family of five children to an extent that we had to send some of our children to sleep over their grandmother's house. We are people who rely on casual labour to raise income that helps in feeding our families and this would provide just enough to feed our family.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am a small-scale farmer with 5 children. Educating and catering to the needs of these children has been a challenge for me. My husband is a high-tempered and reckless person who loves and spends much of his time and resources with his first wife. For ten years now I have been practicing farming on rented farms to earn a living. I am delighted that this amount will enable me to establish a small-scale business, I plan to spend KES 25000 on the purchase of a bale of second-hand clothes and the remaining amount on school fees.
What is the happiest part of your day?
For the past 6 years we have had conflicts and misunderstanding within our household. I separated from my husband in the year 2018 due to a tough economic situation and emotional abuse him.Early this year we came back together after an intervention by our parents and the community leaders.Life has been smooth and happy for the past 6 months and this has brought joy into my life.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Financial constraint is the biggest challenge am cure facing in this household. For ten years now I have been renting a 0.5-acre piece of land to farm. Unfortunately, the yields from this farm are too minimal for commercial purposes hence all of it is consumed within the household. Payment of school fees has therefore become a challenge to an extent that my two children have been taken up by my parents and the other three are found of absenteeism in school .
