GDLive Newsfeed
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.
Happy Holidays!
GDLive updates will be slower while GiveDirectly's Africa offices are closed over the holidays.
Esther's family
access_time 6 years ago
Esther enrolled.
"For the last two years my husband has been absconding his responsibilities of providing for the family.This has made it difficult for my children to have complete meals and be in school throughout because I have no one to support me financially. Getting money from Givedirectly means I will comfortably provide food for them three times a day and pay school fees so that they can learn to be responsible in future."
Cherotich's family
access_time 6 years ago
Cherotich enrolled.
"Educating my children has been my greatest worry. This is because I don't have sufficient resources and finances to see them through their education. As a result, my son, who had a passion for education, had to drop out of school because I could not raise 10,000 shillings for him to join form one at a local secondary school. This has made me feel that I have failed him as a parent. "
Stevin's family
access_time 6 years ago
Stevin enrolled.
"The biggest hardship I have faced is lack of money to meet my family medical and food needs. The casual jobs that I do either cane cutting or weeding earn one hundred and fifty shillings only person day, this kind of cash cannot carter for the entire family budget, sometimes causing arguments in the family with the other gender complaining that I am not providing enough, this was the cause of my separation with my wife because she never appreciated my efforts. I hope finally the cash transfer that I am going to receive will fix my investment and peace shall be restored in my family."
Charles's family
access_time 6 years ago
Charles enrolled.
"The biggest hardship I have faced is that I work very long hours to meet the target in the farms because I am old and my work rate is slow. Sometimes I spend two days working on a job that would take young strong men just few hours. I end up many times going without meals because of lack of money either because I did not meet the target of the farm owners or promised pay for the following day."
Kahindi's family
access_time 6 years ago
Kahindi enrolled.
"As a casual labourer, I earn between 4000 and 5000 shillings in a good month. This money is never enough to meet all of my family's needs of food, education, clothing and medical care incase of illnesses. Due to these constraints, I have even failed to build a house big enough to accommodate my whole family, we are all squeezed in a one room house that is made of mud walls and an iron sheet roof that leaks during rainy seasons. I see inadequate financial resources as my biggest hardship in life."
Dama's family
access_time 6 years ago
Dama enrolled.
"My husband depends on charcoal burning to make ends meet but the work is tiresome and takes 3 to 4 months to get returns. During this period of waiting, I would rely on my two daughters who lived with me for food and other basic needs such as medication as they both did casual jobs to earn income for the family. Unfortunately, they both passed away a few years back and this devastated me alot. Inadequate financial resources has been and still is my biggest setback in life. "
Chemutai's family
access_time 6 years ago
Chemutai received a $22 seventh payment.
"I expect my life to have changed in the next six months in that, I will have cleared my college studies. And also I will have saved some good money in the merry go round which I intend to use in starting up a poultry keeping project to enable me to earn an extra income to meet additional household needs."
Martin's family
access_time 6 years ago
Martin received a $535 initial payment.
"It was 5:00 am when I had a message notification on my phone and when I checked, it was a message from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy, shared the news with the spouse, and she was happy too and the only word she uttered was "all I need is a good house, kindly plan on how to construct it"."
Susan's family
access_time 6 years ago
Susan received a $535 initial payment.
"The biggest difference in my daily life is the feeling of content because I have achieved the goal of my dream which is to own a watermelon farm. From the stories I have been getting from my friends who have invested in this project before, I believe I'll get good income out of it that will help me achieve most of my goals, constructing a house being the top priority of all the goals after losing the previous house through fire leaving us with totally nothing."
Tabu's family
access_time 6 years ago
Tabu enrolled.
"Subsistence farming is quite unreliable due to poor rainfall and unproductive land in the area. However, this is the source of income I depend on to take care of my family. Besides this, my husband works in a quarry and supports the family with less 1000 shillings a month. The lack of a stable source of income makes it impossible to feed and educate my children. I am required to pay 3000 shillings for my children in school, but I am unable to raise this amount and in most cases they are sent back home. My desire is to give my children a bright future through education. Therefore, I will use this transfer to revive my shop business that will generate a stable income for the family. I will also construct a new house for my mother in-law since the current one is very small and the roof is leaking. Besides this, I will purchase oxen to facilitate agriculture which will curb food shortage. Apart from using the oxen in my farm, I will also rent them to other people in order to generate more income."