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 6:00 am that day when I heard my phone ring. This was quite unusual for me since I had not received a text in such an early morning before. On checking to see the contents of the message, I was lost for words to learn that I had indeed received money from GiveDirectly. I then received some calls from other village members who had received their share and we were all in a celebration mood in the village. We already had plans as a family on what we wanted to do as a family and so we got down to implementing 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 the peace of mind that I got after receiving these transfers. Three of my children are in high school and one is in college. This means that we have to did deep into our pockets to pay their school fees and keep them in school. The transfers came at a time when we had huge school fees arrears in those schools and we did not have any money to clear this. Considering that I was only working as a casual laborer in a local day school and that I earned very little to raise such money, things were going to be tough for us and we would have our children sent home for school fees. My husband too was getting very little from his workshop. The total amount of money that we got combined was jut enough to meet the daily needs with other timesbeing really hard to even put food on the table. On receiving these transfers we purposed to clear all the school fees for our children and for the first time ever since they joined secondary school, we can be sure that they are not going to be sent home for school fees and we are optimistic that this will translate to improvement in their performance. They felt so happy themselves claiming that God had come through for them this time round. This is the biggest difference in our daily lives.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent part of my transfer to pay school fees and used part of it to buy food for the family while the remaining amount was used to buy iron sheets for completing a house that had delayed in construction due to lack of enough money. For the first time we were able to pay school fees for our four children and be sure that for the entire term they were not going to be sent home for lack of school fees. Furthermore, a house that was left incomplete for months then was finally going to be put to completion after receiving the moeny from GiveDirectly. It was just the moment we had been waiting for to us as a family.
Enrolled
access_time over 4 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I live in a small peace of land which is around 0.1 of an acre and therefore, I am planning to increase it in order to use part of it to plant crops. Therefore, receiving this money mean I will be able to increase the size of our land.
What is the happiest part of your day?
The happiest part of my day is in the morning. Since I am a housewife, my day starts at around 7 am by preparing my 3 school going children then I embark to normal household chores such us going to the garden to work until late in the evening and then start preparing dinner for my family. Therefore, seeing a new day makes me feel jovial.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Since I live in a small peace of land, it is costly for us to lease another land for planting crops yet we struggle to raise School fees and to meet other household needs. The biggest hardship is therefore lack of enough land to fend for my family.
