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?
Together with my husband and children, we were very excited about the confirmation of the good news. It was around 5:00 Pm when I received the message that I confirmed to have been from GiveDirectly and had the good news. I showed my children, who were expecting their school fees to be paid, and other household goods. I called my husband, who came home to celebrate with us before collecting it three days later from the nearby shopping center.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life is the simplified initiation of a new project that we had been contemplating for a long time. This has been so hard to establish since the only source of income we had was the small business and the small-scale livestock farming that were not productive enough to meet all the costs.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
After four years of struggle to meet all my children's obligations in various schools and provide for my family of seven, I am glad that GiveDirectly came to our rescue. It made it easier for my elder son, who is soon sitting for his final examinations in secondary school, and also my daughter, who joined grade nine. I had KES 7000 arrears for the elder and also needed to pay KES 17000 admission fees for my daughter. This would not have been easier without the support that I am much grateful for. I also spent the remaining KES 30000 on sourcing the construction materials needed for erecting a new house for my sons. They had been moving out every night to their grandmother, where they had been sleeping in an old store since the limited space. I am looking forward to the start of the construction work set to pick up in a week.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means that my children shall be able to progress with their studies without any interruption. I have two sons who just cleared their primary school education and they passed their national exam well. In the next 4 weeks am required to pay KES. 100,000 to cater for their shopping and school fees. We planned to have one of them repeat Grade 8 as we do a fundraiser for the other one because we only have KES. 15,000 at the moment. My husband is a motorcycle taxi operator and that's what we depend on to provide us everything. He earns KES.300 daily which mostly goes to buying food items. We are so happy and as a family, we would like to express our gratitude to GiveDirectly for bringing a solution amid hopelessness.
What is the happiest part of your day?
We were so happy last week about the results of my two sons. It gave me so much joy because their results have guaranteed them placement in a good secondary school.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
A proper source of income is a challenge to us now. We used to depend on small-scale farming of maize but it has been affected mostly by emerging diseases and it is no longer profitable. The motorcycle taxi business is coupled with so much competition which reduces income greatly.
