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.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
The initiative by giving directly to offer cash donations to the peasants like me is a great one. My life has improved and it will keep improving. By the end of this program, I believe I will have made tremendous changes in addition to owning a home and raising healthy educated children. So far, I have not seen anything bad about give directly.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I am yet to do some home improvement since I was focusing on paying my debts first, once all of them are settled, I will start working on improving my life and that of my children. So, from my first and second transfer, I basically focused on food and school fees. Where on my first, my 3children, who are in class 8, class 4, and PP2 had school fee arrears of ksh2000. So, from the ksh1200 I received, I used ksh600 to reduce the bill and the other ksh600 I spent on food. When I got my second transfer, I cleared the arrears I had in school that was equating to ksh2000. For the ksh1000 that was remaining, I used it equally on food and the children's clothing. Now that they have reopened school, I have arrears of ksh2240. Normally, I help out my mother with her charcoal-burning business where a sack of charcoal goes for ksh300 to ksh500. I will use my earnings from her to try to pay for some of the school fee arrears to avoid my children not being allowed in class.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
1200 KES ($11 USD)
access_time almost 3 years ago
attach_money
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
The day I received this money I was at home doing chores like washing dishes. I heard my phone ring with a message and when I checked it was a confirmation message from M-pesa. I was so happy words cannot express my gratitude.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my life is that I now have food security in that I know no matter how tough my life is with no jobs, I have some money coming in that I could budget with. There will be many chances to grow and prosper.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
The day that I received this first transfer I came to the decision that since we were facing a drought and food stock was scarce I had to buy a bale of maize meal which coated KES.1200.This would give us food security as we had experienced days with barely anything to eat. I am grateful for this opportunity.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I am a single mother of three. Since I separated with my husband,three years ago, taking care of my three children has been an uphill task. I have not had any stable source of income but now help from Give Directly, I will comfortably pay for my children's fees and also feed them.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Today has got to be the happiest day in the past year because your visit has given us hope of a renovating our house and sending our children to school.
I live with my mother who is aged. She has always talked about the need of building a better house for us. With time, I believe we can pull resources and put up a better house.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
When my marriage failed, I had to come back to my mother's house. She is aged and unwell.
Two of my other siblings also came back home from abusive marriages and cannot seem to get jobs.
We have to depend on my mother's charcoal selling business for survival.
The saddest bit is the unavailability of jobs and not being able to help my mother rebuild our house that is totally ruined.
