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?
I was just relaxing at home when I heard a message notification from my phone. Since I do not know how to ready I asked my daughter to check it out. She said that it was a message confirming that I have received money from GiveDirectly. I felt so happy because I have never received such amount of money before. It was one of the happiest days of my life. We all celebrated as a family and started to list down items to spend on. I withdraw the money after one day. I am so grateful for the support because GiveDirectly has changed our living standards.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Being in a position to pay 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 performances. I have two children in secondary school and paying all the school fees is a big challenge. I do not have a continuous source of income, I depend on casual jobs and small scale business of groceries. The money that I get through this is so small and I was not in a position to clear the balances. This was my biggest challenge since I wanted to give my children the best education. I was so demoralizing everytime they were sent home. When I received the transfer from GiveDirectly I felt so happy and paid all the areas and school fees. I am so grateful because currently the are studying well without being disturbed. I wish to get better performance since they have humble time in school. I'm so excited and grateful.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
I spent KES 30,000 on paying school fees for my two children in secondary school. This was my main concern since my children used to be sent home to collect the school fees and this was affecting their performance in school. Currently they are studying well without being disturbed. I spent the rest of the money on purchasing a water tank for storing clean water for domestic uses. I used to walk for a long distance to collect clean water. This was so tiresome and time-consuming. Currently I have enough water and I have saved time to work on my farm. I am so grateful for the support.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
20 years ago, my husband passed away due to health complications. Since then, I have been raising my children single-handedly from the farming of bananas, beans and maize. With the selling of cattle as a subsidy to raising their school fees, my 6 children have been able to go through their primary education with ease. Unfortunately, I sold all the 4 cows I had on the farm and consequently have none at the moment. It is a sigh of relief with the Givedirectly's transfers for I plan to use KES 40000 to purchase a lactating cow for milk production and earn income from the sales. I will be glad that my family will be food secure as well as financially stable. I will use the rest of the transfers to pay college fees for my 3 children .
What is the happiest part of your day?
How does it feel when all your children are sent to collect school fees at the same time yet you have nothing to offer? Discouraging is it not? I am glad that when my 3 children were sent home for fees in February 2022, I was able to get a loan from a friend and my children went back to school. I praised the Lord for they are now catching with their peers education-wise.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Raising school fees single-handedly for my 3 children in college is a challenge I am currently facing. Since I practice farming for a living, the farm at times is not productive due to harsh climatic conditions and diseases hence running into losses. Many times I can not raise school fees and it pains me that my children miss out on sitting for their exams thus a wasted term. They feel that I have failed in providing for their education which is a basic need, therefore being a reason for their discontinuity.
