GiveDirectly: Send money directly to the extreme poor

2nd Payment

Transfer Amount

53150 KES ($521 USD)

4 years ago

How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?

My life us currently different from how it would have been had I not received the transfer because my children were able to continue with their education. Had it not have been for the transfer, they would have dropped out of the school due to lack of money to use in paying their school fees. Due to this, their life would have been ruined forever since I believe that education is key to success.

In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?

GiveDirectly did well by uplifting our lives in different ways and I do not see anything that they did not do well.

What did you spend your second transfer on?

When I received my second transfer, I bought a dairy cow as a way if investing this money. When it reproduces, my family will have enough milk for consumption and sale to earn an income. Also, I spent some amount to pay school fees for my children. I settled on this since I did not wish them to be sent back home to collect the school fees as it would have made them to skip some classes. I used the remaining amount to bug some daily basic needs for my family.

Initial Payment

Transfer Amount

55000 KES ($544 USD)

almost 5 years ago

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life.

I am a mother with a passion for giving my children a better future that relies on small business to raise my family needs. I have children in various schools and in college. The nature of my business is so engaging and require a lot of sacrifices to meet the goal. I take about two to three hours to get into the neighboring community land where I fetch firewood so that I can sell to earn a living. I spend almost twelve hours a day to earn a maximum of Six hundred shilling amount that is enough to sustain my family daily basic needs and children education hence I have to be there on daily basis to reduce the debts that I will incur if I don't. I am growing older and getting exhausted with my business day in day out. When I received my first transfer from GD I used part of it on my children education, household food and other daily expenditure and this has given me the biggest difference in my daily life. Even though I will go back to my business I have taken a rest since I have enough food and I have paid for my child in secondary school hence have fewer expenses to incur, I am currently relaxed with peaceful minds.

Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?

I received a message notification at around 2.00 AM something that had never happened to me before. On checking, I was surprised to see that I had received money from GD and immediately turned to my husband to share the good news with him. We felt so happy and thankful that we had seen a helping hand.

What did you spend your first transfer on?

As a mother, my biggest goal in life is to see my children get to have a better future and I have taken a step to give them the education that can help them later. I had catered some asset-livestock before and these have helped me meet my children education through selling them. I took KES2000 of my first transfer to pay school fees for my children in school and since I was almost exhausting my livestock, I took KES30000 of my first transfer to purchase sheep since these will take a shorter time to reproduce hence help me meet the family financial needs arising. We had run short of food in our store and it was becoming expensive buying them on a daily basis hence I took KES13000 of my first transfer on my household food and other daily expenditures. I am happy that I have enough food for my family daily consumption. I spent the remaining amount on my family basic needs mainly clothing to add to what we had.

Enrolled

5 years ago

What does receiving this money mean to you?

I am planning to buy twenty goats from the transfers and add the tally that I have.This will help me venture more to livestock farming and do away with more physical jobs since I feel that my body is becoming weaker.For the remaining transfers ,I will buy two beds for my children who have never had the priviledge of using one.

What is the happiest part of your day?

The happiest part of my day is in the evening when I get back home from my usual firewood business.It is a very hard task since I carry firewood on my back from the supplier which is a long distance from home.My customers are mainly hotels and it is my duty to also distribute the firewood.I leave my house at sunrise and come back at sunset.Nothing makes me more happy than getting to relax after this long day's activity.

What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?

For the last few months I have been experiencing serious back pains that has started affecting my productivity.I do firewood business whereby I buy firewood from the neighbouring county of Narok and then sell in my county of Bomet.For two months now I cannot do this work because of the back pains which I suspect was caused by this job.I have been doing this business using my back as a means of transport for close to ten years now.It is quite a distance from where I get the supply to my home not to mention distributing to my consumers. I have depended on this business for that long and for the last two months I have started struggling in meeting the basic needs since I cannot support my husband in doing so.I have visited the hospital three times and everytime I get a different response from the doctors.This includes brucellosis and typhoid.I am very confused about this.I hope to get well soon but I am confused on whether to go on with this business or to quit;This has been my source of income for a very long time but on the other hand poses a health risk.Receiving the cash transfers from Give Directly might help me find an alternative source of income which is less physical.