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?
It was 6 am and we were still sleeping when suddenly I heard my phone ringing hence jolting me from my sleep. It was a notification of a new message. I wondered what the SMS was all about and hence I reached out for my phone from where I had placed it the previous night. I opened the SMS and I could not believe it when I read that I had received KES 55000 in my mobile money account. I was so happy and I immediately told my wife what had happened as I showed her the SMS. She was so happy too and we thanked God for it. We then later on planned on how we were going to spend it before we went and withdrew it.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The transfer has brought a big difference in our lives as a family. This is because we managed to achieve our dream of building another house. The house that we built is cemented on the floor, unlike the other one which was made of mud. We thus now live in a dust-free environment. We also managed to buy sheep that are going to help us in the future with the payment of school fees for the children. Our children were also about to stay home due to school fees arrears, but with the transfer, we managed to clear the arrears, and hence they were able to go to school well and concentrate on their studies. We are thus happy and thankful because all these became possible due to the help from GiveDirectly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
We spent KES 20000 of our recent transfer on building another house. We decided to do so because the house that we used to live in had grown old. It was always our wish to build another house but due to financial constraints, we were not in a position to. I am a motorcycle rider and I usually do the motorcycle taxi business. The money that I get from my hustle, most of it usually goes to the purchase of food for my family and paying school fees for my three children. Other than that, we also spent KES 15000 on buying five sheep. We decided to buy them because they usually reproduce and multiply in number so fast. We can sell some of the offsprings in the future and get money for paying school fees for the children. We also took KES 10000 that we used in paying school fees for our child who is in secondary school. With the remaining transfer amount, we spent it on buying maize for our consumption. We are thus so much grateful to GiveDirectly for helping us.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving money means a better living standard of my family. I do motorcycle taxi as my source of income. Currently this business is not longer profitable like before I used to earn around KES 500 per day but now it is around KES 200. This is as a result of bad economy we are experience now in our county Kenya. This and other incomes from subsistence farming I do has assist me to pay school fees for my 3 children who are in primary and other one in secondary level. For the past 6 years now I have not be able to save any so as to assist me do other generating income. We are planing to use around KES 40,000 to purchase a dairy cow. The rest I will use in paying school fees for my children and meet other fanily basic needs.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Hearing that Givedirectly is working in my area brought me joy. For the past 6 years now I have been struggling to raise for school fees of my children and other school neccessities. The little I received from motorcycle taxi and other savings catered for half of this.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
The challenges we are facing currently is financial constraints. In the year 2017, my child was serious suck. We had to sell most of our properties to raise money for her medication but we did not manage to save her life at last. This is the time we starting having this financial constraints. Currently, as we speak our dairy expenditure is around KES 500 against my income of KES 200 I get from motorcycle taxi.
