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?
Before knowing that I had received the transfer, there was an icon on my phone screen which I was unable to figure out what it was all about. A day later, I heard people talking in a way that they had received their money and I was wondering why I haven’t received yet we were registered at the same time. I asked a family member to check for me and to my surprise the icon which I was seeing on the screen was the money envelop. I was filled with happiness knowing that I was going to pass the drought season stress free since I had already panicked.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
The biggest difference was being able to pay school fees for my children and also buying livestock despite the drought. If it were not for GiveDirectly, I guess my children wouldn’t have continued with their education due to the hardship I was passing through.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When I withdrew the money, I bought a bicycle so that it may aid me in water fetching since the distance to the water point was very long and it was expensive if you hire a motorbike. I was also able to pay school fees for my children. Thereafter, I bought some goats and saved the remaining amount for food to sustain the family.
Enrolled
access_time over 2 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
I have 2 children who are in secondary school and 2 are still in their primary school. Raising school fees for my children has been a big challenge to me because of the current economic crisis whereby it has not been raining for the past 3 years and we have not harvested any thing. I depend on charcoal burning activities as a base for feeding my family and also paying school fees for my 4 children. My husband is blind and I have to care for him like my own child. Receiving this money means I will be relieved the burden of school fees for my 4 children and have a base as food security for my family.
What is the happiest part of your day?
We received a grant from the old aged program for my husband assistance last month of 3000 KES which assisted us in the side of food security in my house and this brought me happiness but unfortunately it has elapsed and I am back to the same situations .
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
My biggest challenges I have encountered for the last two years is food insecurity and payment of school fees for my children. We sometimes go to bed without food and also I have been expiriencing chest pain for the last 2 months because of the straneous job of charcoal burning but I have never afforded to look for medical assistance because of the economic catastrophy in my house.
