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 had left my phone at home and while at our trading centers, I heard some people claiming that they had received the promised money from GiveDirectly. I quickly rushed back home after I was done with what I was doing since I wanted to know if I was among the lucky people. My heart was filled with joy when I saw the Mpesa message and confirmed it after checking my account balance. I immediately called and shared the good news with my spouse and he was equally happy to know that God had decided to bless us at a time when we were facing a lot of financial challenges.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my life is that I have been able to clear second-term school fees for my children. Due to this, they have never been sent back home and this has given them enough time to concentrate on their studies. In addition, I am happy that my daughter has been able to start sleeping in school and this gives her ample time to revise especially in the evenings since she no longer gets distracted by work at home.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I have two children in the academy and my elder daughter had always been troubled since she was required to start living at school. In her class, she was the only one who was still a day scholar since we had not been able to raise money to use in buying boarding materials that were required. I am a subsistence farmer and we've always depended on my husband who works as a security officer. His salary was not enough to pay for his house rent, transport to work, and food and still send us some money to use in paying school fees for our chiildren and to spend on food. I am happy that the transfer came in handy in meeting our needs as a family. First, I used KES 30000 to pay school fees for our children and also spent 10000 to buy boarding items for my daughter so that she would start sleeping in school. Using the remaining amount, I bought food and other household necessities to last us some days.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
One prayer that parents have is for their children to succeed in life and the only way that can be achieved is to give them the best education. My firstborn daughter is a day scholar in one of the schools here in Sigor, and I desire to have her board so that she can have ample time to prepare for this year's national exams. My husband works for a security firm in Nairobi where he earns KES 9,000 per month and this is not enough to pay fees for a boarding school. I am happy to be enrolled because I intend to use KES 30,000 to pay school fees for my daughter. Receiving this money means a lot to me as it will help me pay for my daughter's school fees so that he can adequately prepare for her final exams.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Five months ago I gave birth to a bouncy baby girl and I am happy that it was a home delivery. Seeing my daughter smile makes me even happier
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food insecurity is the biggest worry that my family is grappling with at the moment. I depend on rain-fed agriculture and when it fails to rain plants wither and die leaving me with nothing to harvest. I do not own a cow and that means I have to buy 2liters of milk every morning for my 3young children for KES 70 per liter. Living from hand to mouth is hard because you are always worried about where your next meals will come from.
