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 ($443 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?
My new goal is to be able to keep paying school fees for my children. I have seven children in various levels of their studies with most of them in their secondary school level. I plan to concentrate fully on paying their school fees by assembling all the neccesary resources to see them have the best in terms of education.
In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?
In my opinion GiveDirectly did very well by giving all of us an opportunity to choose what to spend the money on. There was never any form of tribalism in how they chose those who were enrolled into the program. Everything about the enrollment was so seamless.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I used all of my recent transfer to pay school fees for my children. The money came at a time that I had huge school fees arears for all my seven children and I was able to clear most of it. I am now at peace and hoping to get some additional cash and be able to keep my children in school all year round.
Initial Payment
Transfer Amount
55000 KES ($475 USD)
access_time almost 2 years ago
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Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
it was very early in the morning around 7 Am. I was on my farm spraying my crops when I heard a message notification on my phone. I stopped to check out who could have texted me that morning. I could not believe my eyes it was a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy because I have never received such an amount of money before. I continue with the work I was doing and later went home to inform my family. Everyone was so happy with the good news. I went and withdrew the message the same day and planned with my family how to spend it.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Paying school fees for my children in various schools is the biggest difference in my daily life. This is because my children used to be sent home to collect the school fees and this was affecting their performance since they could spend much time at home. I depend on small-scale farming. I plant vegetables and potatoes. I sell the produce from the farm to earn an income to meet my daily household need and pay the school fees. This was so small and I was not able to clear all the school fees on time. When I received the money I felt so happy because I knew I would be able to pay all the school fees on time. Currently, my children are studying well without being disturbed. I expect to get a better performance this academic year. I am so grateful because GiveDirectly has enabled us to educate our children.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spend KES 200 on school fees for my two children in secondary school. They used to be sent home and this was affecting their performances. Currently, they are studying well without being disturbed. I spent KES 25,000 on purchasing dairy cows. This has cut the daily cost of buying milk. I save the money that I could have used to buy milk for other household items. The rest of the money I spent on food and clothes for my family members. I am so grateful for the support.
Enrolled
access_time 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
We are a family of 6 children, 4 of them are school going, 1 in primary school and 3 in Secondary school. My wife deals in groceries and it has assisted us to pay their school fees albeit with the challenges of inadequate capital. It is a good business though we have not been able to maximize the profits because it requires enough capital. This has weighed down on us and it breaks my heart a lot, we could be considerably well financially. It is because of the foregoing that we plan to use KES 20000 to inject into the business and use the rest of the money to buy a dairy cow.
What is the happiest part of your day?
We have received adequate rainfall for the past two months. This has made the cabbage crops we planted do well. We are now selling from the farm gate at KES 20 each. On a good day, we sell up to KES 200 which we used to buy household goods. This has made our lives easy and we are happy.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
We struggle a lot to pay school fees for our children. There is no time that we have paid the fees with ease. Even as of now we still owe the school fees arrears of 15000. It disturbs us a lot when the children are sent home for fees and maybe we can not send them back due to lack of it. We wish well our children and look forward to a better future by providing them with ample time to study without being sent home for fees.
