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.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Every month-end, my children are sent out of school to collect pending school fees. Therefore, I am always skewed towards settling these overdue arrears before anything else. Since I adopted a norm to spend half of my monthly transfers on clearing the tuition, I channeled 4,500 KES from the recent transfers towards that course. I used the remaining amount, 4,500 KES, to purchase food and ensure the daily provision of meals to my children.
2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
3050 KES ($27 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
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In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in terms of ensuring that every needy person within a village has an equal opportunity to get enrolled. With GiveDirectly have not seen instances of biasness or favoritism towards anybody or certain members of the community. This has made it easy for us the community to welcome them freely and we are grateful that it is changing the lives of many people.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I have three kids who are in primary school. The three owed the school KSH 400 as fee balances for this term. Upon receiving the transfer I spent KSH 1200 to clear the fee balance I owed the school. I am currently facing a hard time financially. I do not have a well-paying job and we have survived the better part of this year by reducing the number of meals from 3 to 1 per day. I also spent the remaining amount in purchasing in buying food. I bought half a dozen of maize flour at KSH 1200. I also bought sugar, tea leaves, cooking oil, toothpaste, and other household items to be used by my family members.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
3050 KES ($27 USD)
access_time 3 years ago
attach_money
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was very excited because my children could go to school and I would not be worried about the debts I had, although I was not completely done but I had at least lessened the amount that I was required to pay and had accumulated and hopefully eventually it would all be done.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
I could manage to send my kids back to school because I was very much scared that they would get kicked out of sick and since I only sell firewood to earn money meanwhile my husband is sickly then I would not have managed to send them back to school and time soon and in turn they would be missing out.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When I received the transfers I immediately paid for tuition fee for my children because I had debts and so I gave three of my kids who were in primary KES 800 to split among themselves and then for my eldest who was in highschool I paid a total of KES 1000 so that they would not get kicked out of school. I also managed to buy a sack of maize flour that contained twelve packets which cost me KES 1200 for the nutrition in my home.
Enrolled
access_time 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I foresee my children academic performance improving. They miss out on a lot when they have been sent away from school and I can’t raise enough school fees in time. In some instances, they have missed school for an entire week. It has been sad to see their performance drop. I plan on using the monthly transfers to clear the arrears and see their dreams come alive.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Waking up in the morning in good health for me is a blessing. Seeing my family are well gives me energy to start a new day with hope to find income opportunities to support my family.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I depend on income from casual jobs to earn a living and support my family. In addition, I try out farming and when the yield is good we store up food enough to last us a year. It’s been a long since we had such a harvest, three years to be exact. The nine bags we harvested could only last us long. It became even harder when my husband fell ill. Now whatever earnings I get are split between putting food on the table and buying little medication for him. This has become the biggest difficulty.
