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.
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2nd Payment
Transfer Amount
53150 KES ($442 USD)
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?
School fees for my children are still the priority and a goal that I aim to achieve. I am a mother of six children and I aim to see them fulfilling their dreams academic wise. To achieve this, I started small businesses like selling some snacks every morning door to door and taking the ones which remain to a nearby shop where the shopkeeper sells for me.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
GiveDirectly offered us monetary support that caters to individual needs since we got the freedom to spend on everything we needed in our households. To my family, it enabled us to have nice sleeping places because we are now sleeping comfortably on nice beddings not as before when we were using tattered ones. I am pleased with how the exercise was conducted. It was well crafted and the officers served us with great honor and respect.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
Upon getting phase two of the transfer, I immediately paid KES 18000.00 school fees for my six children. One is in secondary school while the five are in primary school. I did this as my first agenda because I want to see my children comfortable in school, learning without disturbances. Thereafter, I bought one and three mattresses for KES 5000.00 and KES 13500.00. The bed and one mattress were mines while the two mattresses were for my children. They had beds but the mattresses were bad-looking since they were overused. I also bought two goats for KES 8000.00 to have a remembrance of GiveDirectly. As it was a drought season, I opted to keep the remaining amount for food.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($484 USD)
access_time over 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
It was in the evening when I got the SMS confirming that I have received the money from GiveDirectly. I was overjoyed and so happy that my children were dying with laughter, because I had never before received this amount of money that would help me address the challenges that would have definitely taken me a lot of time to address.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference in my daily life since I started receiving money from GiveDirectly is that I was able to settle my children's school fees arrears, as well as my personal debts. I am now a debt free person and my children have food regularly which was not very possible before. I am so grateful and happy
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent most of the transfer which was KES 15000 on settling my children's school fees arrears because I I didn't want their education to be interrupted or disrupted by lack of school fees. This is also due to the fact that I believe that I stand to benefit a lot from their good education in the future because they will find employment and will not forget about me. I also spent KES 6000 on buying two goats because I believe they are an investment, and far much better than spending the money on recurrent basic and secondary wants which would only finish the money and never make me progress. These goats, I believe, will multiply and increase in numbers which inturn I'll be able to sell one or two and address the financial challenges I will be facing in the future.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I have been vending firewood, a job that is not reliable because getting potential customers is usually not consistent and in a week, I make sales of 400 KES. I have desired to be a vegetable vendor within our village because sometimes, there is a scarcity of vegetables that makes one walk almost 8 kilometers to get them. However, this has never been possible due to the lack of starting capital. With the cash grant from GiveDirectly, I am very positive about a better future because I intend to spend 20000 KES of my first transfer to ensure this comes to reality. This will act as my reliable source of income to support my family's needs. The remaining amount will aid in supporting my children's education, buying food, and acquiring new beddings. Therefore, this is basically what receiving this money means to me.
What is the happiest part of your day?
Despite the many challenges that I am facing in my life, I am so grateful for being healthy with my family. No one has ever been complaining of sickness especially in the last 6 months, something that has given me peace considering that I lack money to cater for any emergence bills. Hence, I consider my family's good health as what has brought about happiness in my life.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Imagine making only 400 KES per week from my work of vending firewood and this is required to support my children in school, also buying food. It has been a life of stress with my children skipping food and missing classes due to a lack of school fees. This has given me sleepless nights and I, therefore, consider financial instability as the main challenge that I am currently facing.
