How You Changed The Lives of 250 Families in Rwanda

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[on-hold music] Friends, last Christmas we teamed up with about 40 other big podcasts to support our dear friends at GiveDirectly with a very special campaign called, obviously, Pods Fight Poverty.

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The goal was to raise $1 million to send to families in extreme poverty in Bukara, Rwanda. Today, I wanna share some of those results with you and some of those stories from the folks you helped.

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But first, a reminder, some context. In Bukara, most people are farmers, but they don't own large enough plots to grow enough food, and many struggle to eat more than one meal a day. Water supply is inconsistent.

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People often rely on nearby natural streams to collect water when their wells are dry. And there are very few jobs for young people. Families don't have the capital to start small businesses to create their own jobs.

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Here's the good news. Five hundred plus rigorous academic studies show how effective cash can be for local economies, for infant mortality, food security, and more.

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And that's at least in part because when you give cash directly to people in poverty, it means they can choose how best to improve their own lives. You're also giving them dignity and flexibility.

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So how did our big campaign go? Well, you and me and the 40 other pods we worked with, we raised $386,000, reaching two hundred and fifty families in need. Pretty incredible stuff. I'm extremely grateful to all of you.

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Families told us they spent the cash on urgently needed livestock, household items, food, housing, land, education, healthcare, and more.

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So listen up to this short little ditty for some of their firsthand stories about how much your generosity affected their lives directly.

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You did this, and you can keep doing this, so do not forget to consider setting up a new monthly donation at GiveDirectly.org. Let's go hear from those families.

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[on-hold music] My name is Mukashima Clementine, and I have a family of five, my husband and our three children.

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Before receiving the transfer, we struggled to get food on a daily basis. After receiving the transfer, we bought two goats worth $136, a pig worth $68, and a cow worth $340.

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We also bought two mattresses worth $122, rented land for farming for $102, and did some renovations in the house that cost $136.

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I chose to buy goats and a pig because they reproduce fast, and I knew I would be able to profit from selling their young ones.

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Around that same time, my niece had been expelled from school because she didn't have the means to pay. I had learned about her expulsion a week before.

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After receiving the transfer, I could not let her stop her studies, so I paid her tuition of $34. My family was so happy, and it brought us closer together.

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My name is Alphonse. I am a village chief and a farmer. In the past, we farmed, but our harvests were always very small due to a lack of fertilizers.

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After receiving payments, most people invested in livestock, buying cows, pigs or goats. Others improved their homes by installing proper flooring, adding new doors and ceilings, and strengthening the walls.

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Before, I sold only beans, but my capital was insufficient. Whenever I invested in farming, I did not have enough capital to keep my shop stocked, and it would sometimes run out of goods.

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Now, I sell beans, corn and wheat. Currently, I have five hundred kilograms of maize and one ton of beans in stock.

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Previously, I could not keep more than three hundred kilograms in my store, but now my stock has grown to over one point five tons. My name is Anne Marie.

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I'm a mother of four, two sons, two daughters, and another daughter whom I adopted. I earn a living by purchasing bananas and making banana wine, which I sell at the market. I received my transfer on a Tuesday morning.

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After withdrawing the money, the first thing I wanted to do was thank God. We gave around fifteen dollars to the church.

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I wanted to give back to the community, and I felt this was the best way since the church runs support programs. After that, I bought a cow for around six hundred dollars.

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I also invested in poultry farming by purchasing fifty young chicks for one hundred and sixty dollars along with their feed. I chose egg-laying hens, so I could sell the eggs and also have some for my family.

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My name is Potian. We had a debt from a piece of land we bought for farming. We bought it for nine hundred dollars, but still owed two hundred dollars. It had been three years, and we had not been able to pay.

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We tried to raise the money from our banana business, but it failed because we had used all the money to buy the land. We needed land for farming because before we always had to rent.

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My biggest worry was meeting the person we owed the money to because I always felt like they thought badly of me, that I didn't want to pay.

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But honestly, I didn't have the means.When we received GiveDirectly cash support, we were able to pay the debt and it was finally over. We also bought two pigs for forty dollars.

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With the second part of the cash support, we bought another piece of land for five hundred dollars. I also used one hundred dollars to invest in a banana business so that we can improve our lives.

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My wife also invested in a tomato business. Of everything we did with the support, paying the debt made us the happiest. We now feel relieved that we don't have any problems with anyone.

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They were planning to report me to the local leaders, which scared me a lot. We plan to work hard to improve our living conditions. The walls of our house have cracks, so I plan to fix them.

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I also want to install running water in our home because currently we have to collect it from the sources down the hill. I plan to install water at home My name is Aloys and I live with my wife and our two children.

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Before receiving the transfer, I used to carry manure for others and work on other people's farms just to earn a living. On most days, I made about one dollar to two dollars and it was really hard.

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We even struggled to pay rent. After receiving the transfer, I bought a bicycle and got a permit to start transporting people and goods.

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I also bought a piglet and saved the rest of the money because I'm planning to build my own home. Now I'm confident that life will keep improving. Instead of spending money on rent,

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I plan to save it in a savings group that will grow over time. Life is already much easier. I now work in transport in town and earn at least five dollars a day.

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I'm able to meet my family's needs and even save about one point five dollars daily. The work I do now is also healthier and less exhausting, which makes a big difference.

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I'm just waiting for the dry season to begin so I can start building our own house. [outro jingle] That's it for this week's conversation.

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For more conversations, scroll back in the feed or visit podcast.importantnotimportant.com to search by name, topic, whatever. Thanks for sharing, thanks for leaving a review, and thanks for giving a shit.

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