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 around 11.30 pm when I was preparing to go to bed to rest. I had been assisting my kids who were doing their night studies at the house. I heard my phone message alert and my husband asked me what was the message all about at such a time. After examining it, I realized that it was the transfer from GiveDirectly. I was very happy and relieved of all the stress since my 2 secondary school children who are in a day school had been sent home due to school fees on that particular day.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Seeing my children going to school happy without their education cut short due to lack of school fees is the biggest difference in my daily. I have desired to provide quality education for kids so that they may have a better future. I had invested all hope in them to transform our lives. This wish was diminished by the fact that they were always at home due to lack of fees. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for reawakening my hope by coming up with the cash transfer program.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
With 6 children still schooling, 2 children in secondary school, and 4 in primary, life has been so tough especially providing their educational needs. The charcoal vending job that I had depended on could not raise enough money for all our needs. They had a huge fee balance and were constantly sent home due to fee arrears something that makes my life so stressful. Therefore, after receiving my transfer, I spent KES 33,500 to clear their school fees. They are now happy learning without any interruption. I also bought 3 goats for KES 9,000 a long-term investment for my family. With the remaining amount, I bought enough food for the family.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
Receiving this money means school fees for my children. I have seven children, six of them are in school. Our only source of income is charcoal making business and this has never been sustainable because the children are always sent home for school. Currently, two of my children are not going to school because of lack of tuition fees. The charcoal business gives us approximately 3000 KES in two weeks, amount that can not take care of all the needs of our family. Therefore, I plan to use a half of the transfer to pay for my children's school fees.
What is the happiest part of your day?
In September 2021, two of my children who are in secondary school were sent home for school fees. I had no where to go to seek assistance but to my surprise and mercy of God, I received a call from the school account clerk that my children have received a bursary from the office of the area member of county assembly. This really brought joy to my life and thanked God for that miracle because my children went back to school and continued with their studies.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My current challenge is food insecurity. As a subsistence farmer, I used to do mixed farming whereby I was doing both crop and livestock farming. Through this, food availability and accessibility were 100%. But due to the persistent and prolonged drought in our area, all the cows died due to lack of water and grass. This has now caused my family to reduce from eating three meals a day to sometimes two or one a day. This has affected our health and sometimes the performance of our children in school.
