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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES
access_time over 1 year ago
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How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?
I want to continue educating my children until they finish school. I will be able to achieve this by saving little by little from my daily income. I am also planning to boost my business bit by bit after getting some small profit from the salon.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
Receiving this money from GiveDirectly has been of great help to me and my family. At least my children are continuing with their education after I finished paying their school fees. I do not have any complaints at all but I am requesting additional transfers in order to continue educating my children and boosting my business
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
With the first and second transfers I received from GiveDirectly, I managed to spend kes. 20000 in paying school fees for my two children, grades 1 and 3 respectively. I also managed to save kes. 15000 in a merry-go-round. I am a single mother of two, a son and a daughter. I am a salonist and I own a salon hence boosting my salon business by buying blow-dry and basins for washing clients’ hair. I also managed to pay the deposit of a door I bought in an installment plan at kes. 7000, bought and stocked braids for sale at kes. 20000, towels and other salon expenses, and lastly bought adequate food for my family. Thank you so much GiveDirectly for your support being a single mother and taking care of two children is very hard, you really came at the right time.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES
access_time almost 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
That evening is still fresh in my mind. Since the day's activities were strenuous, I decided to take an early rest in order to regain strength little did I know that such good news would come my way. Surprisingly, with the confirmation of my transfer, I felt some unusual strength that I had never imagined. I thereafter opted to settle down and draw a plan on how to spend the transfer. This gave me the confidence that at long last I have a way out of supporting my two children. Meeting their education needs has been a huge struggle ever since my husband and I separated. I had never had such kind of a joy in my life time.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my life is having successfully enrolled in a hairdressing course. I have been learning quite a lot and this enables me to acquire some skills that will help me to have some source of income. Consequently, supporting my children will be easy. I will not have to depend on people in order to provide for my children. Initially, I never knew I could make it because I did not have money to use to enroll for this course although I had been longing for it.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
As a single mother, it has been very heavy for me to raise my two children alone. To make it worse, I do not have any regular source of income, a situation that forces me to rely on unreliable and strenuous casual jobs. From the transfer, I was able to spend KES 15,000 on offsetting school fee arrears for my children and this has given them ample time to focus on their studies. In addition, I spent KES 30,000 to enroll in a salon course. The course will be very beneficial to me because, from it, I shall earn a regular income. Thus supporting my children will no longer be burdensome.
Enrolled
access_time almost 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
When I separated from my husband 4 years ago, I had no choice but to come back to my maternal home. I lived together with my mother in the same house but I could not keep on with her drunkenness because every time she is intoxicated there is no peace in the house. We decided to separate households and she agreed to give me her kitchen where I have been staying since 2021 August. The kitchen has not been in a good state due to bad weather and termites that have weakened the pillars. We did not see the importance of doing renovation at that time because it was just a cooking area. I have always wished to get enough money to repair it since it is my home now but unfortunately, lack of money has not made this possible. I plan to use 20,000 KES for the renovation, spend 10,000 KES on beds and beddings, 5000 KES on my children's school fees and put the remaining money on the SACCO savings. Receiving this money, therefore, means good living conditions for my family plus my children will also go to school without any disruption of school fees.
What is the happiest part of your day?
I have always wanted to train go back to school and get training on how to plaint hair but insufficient capital made it impossible. My prayers were answered in Dec 2021 when I was among the lucky youth to be picked by an organization that was taking people through such training. I learned a lot and I am happy that I am equipped to go out and look for jobs without any fear that I would be rejected because of lack of training.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
I walk every day in the market center to look for casual jobs so I can go back home in the evening with food. The job is strenuous and does not pay much to afford basic requirements for my children. The much I can make per day which is not even daily is 200 KES, this money is not enough to feed my children as well educating them. It is stressful and depressing being a single parent with no good source of income to give my children a good life. My current challenge is therefore lack of money to provide for them.
