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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($441 USD)
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I had a small business when I received the first and the second transfer. Initially, I hoped to expand it, but the renovation of my new house drained all the running capital. At the moment, I am looking forward to reviving the business by restocking the goods and wooing the customers back.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
We appreciated the entire support from GiveDirectly, right from the seamless process of enrollment that treated everyone equally in the village. Receiving monetary support was a solution to various challenges we had since we also got the freedom to make informed decisions to finish the challenges we were facing. We all understood the approach and the enrolment process courtesy of the professional officers who visited our households. I have no complaints but am forever grateful for the generous support we received.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I have a family of six and living in a single roomed house has been a challenge, especially when all my children are back from school. On receiving the second transfer, I spent all the money I received on buying more iron sheets, building poles, sand, cement, and also gravel enough to extend an extra room and changed the walls of the existing house. I am glad that part of the rooms is now complete and has enough reading and sleeping space. With the high cost of the construction materials, I hope to keep buying them in bits until I ensure a complete furnishing of the remaining walls. I thank GiveDirectly for the support that transformed my family by giving us another chance to build a better shelter.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($482 USD)
access_time 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was in a village meeting when I suddenly heard my phone ringing hence notifying me of a new message. I decided to check it and I was surprised when I found out that the new SMS was bearing good news that I had received KES 55000 from GiveDirectly as promised. I was so happy on seeing this that I could not wait for the meeting to end so that I could go tell the rest of my family members the wonderful news.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference in my life and that of my family. I no longer buy milk having bought the cow. I was also able to buy maize for our consumption which is going to sustain us for a while. As a result of this, I no longer take out a lot of money from the business to meet the said costs. My business has thus improved compared to before.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 38000 of the recent transfer on buying a cow. We decided to buy the cow because we did not have any before. We hence used to buy milk which used to cost us a lot. I at first used to buy four liters of milk daily when my wife had given birth but with time I reduced it to two liters. We usually buy a liter at KES 50. I also took KES 5000 from the transfer money and I used it to boost my business of buying and selling chickens. The business had gone down a bit. I usually depend on this business plus that of a shop to get money for buying food for my family of six and pay school fees for my children. With the remaining amount of money, we used it in buying maize and clothes for our children. I am hence grateful to GiveDirectly for their help.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means that my 3 children who are all below 4 years have milk for domestic use. All of them are at the age where a balanced diet food should be adhered to and so milk should be an ever-present component in their diet. Right now, I spent KES 200 to buy them 4 litres of milk daily, and getting this amount regularly is very difficult. I intend to sort out this issue of purchasing milk by buying a dairy cattle worth KES 40000 that is ready for milking. For the rest of the transfer, I plan to stock food for my family and inject some bit of it into my shop.
What is the happiest part of your day?
My wife gave birth to a baby boy 1 month ago. I am now glad to be a father of 3 boys. They say children bring lots of blessings and surely the baby did just that. He has brought my family close together and is an added responsibility to all of us.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Every parent wants to strive to ensure his children are living healthy life. This also applies to me as every day I want to make my family comfortable. Having a young family of 3 children who are all below the age of 4 years, the provision of quality food is paramount for their growth. They love taking milk and with me possessing no dairy cattle to provide us with it, I have to buy 4 litre daily for KES 200. The biggest challenge is getting this cash as I am a local shopkeeper and the average profit I can get per day is KES 200-400. This means on a bad day, I have to get the KES 200 of buying the milk from my capital and I am unhappy to see that is a trend that is starting to affect my business. I hope that one day I will be able to bail myself out of this situation.
