GiveDirectly: Send money directly to the extreme poor

10th Payment

Transfer Amount

3050 KES ($26 USD)

11 months ago

What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?

My primary source of income is a fishmonger business. Through this, I have been able to provide the necessary support to my family. This has been making my family experience a better life. As a result, my husband feels relieved because he no longer has to contribute to our family's needs. However, to diversify my income, I chose to invest the KES 3,000 that I received in starting a poultry farm. With the transfer, I purchased eight hens in the hopes that they will thrive and supplement my family's income.

6th Payment

Transfer Amount

3050 KES ($26 USD)

1 year ago

What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?

I have a daughter who had completed her secondary education and had not yet joined college due to a lack of money to pay her school fees. This made her very frustrated and started doing manual jobs such as fetching water for other people and working on other people’s farms for pay. My husband was dismissed from his job working as a shopkeeper in Mombasa after the Corvid pandemic struck the country. He currently does not have a job and I am the sole breadwinner of the family. I am engaged in a small business selling samosa and fried potatoes in a nearby school. I earn very little from my business, which is enough to feed the family, and left with nothing to save or pay school fees for the children. Therefore, when I received my transfer, I spent KES 2000 paying school fees for my daughter to join college and study a tailoring course. This course will sharpen her skills and hopefully be self-reliant by starting a business. In addition, I spent KES 1000 on buying food for my family. It was becoming a challenge to cater to all the family's needs. Sometimes we slept hungry because I lacked the money to buy food.

5th Payment

Transfer Amount

3050 KES ($27 USD)

1 year ago

What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?

As a Christmas tradition, I spent 2,500 KES and 1,000 KES from my recent transfers to purchase festive clothes and foodstuffs respectively, for my family. I rely on a small business of selling fried fish at the market center for a living. So I deducted 3,000 KES from the received cash to secure extra stock and warrant more profits. Also, I spent 2,100 KES to clear outstanding school fee balances for four children so that they could study without disruptions. Lastly, I purchased food worth 900 KES.

3rd Payment

Transfer Amount

3050 KES ($27 USD)

over 1 year ago

What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?

My first transfer was spent on food and school fees because I received 1200.The second transfer came and I contributed kes 1000 to pay part of my children school fees while invested the kes 2000 in my fish business.My recent transfer came during Christmas period and I used kes 2000 to buy new clothes for my children and invested kes 1000 in my fish business.

2nd Payment

Transfer Amount

3050 KES ($27 USD)

over 1 year ago

In your opinion, what does GiveDirectly do well, and what does it not do well?

In my opinion, GiveDirectly does well in terms of having zero instances of biasness while enrolling residents and also during the disbursement of the transfer. This is something that I commend the organization for. It is very unique in how it conducts its business and as a result, many people can receive aid from it.

What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?

With the current drought situation in the country, one has to find alternative sources of income. I lost my job at the start of this year and had to go back home and start again from scratch. The only alternative I had at that time was working on the farm. With no rains at all that option was also out of the way. I then decide to start a small business but the challenge was funding. When I received the first transfer I indeed started a business of selling vegetables from the market. Upon receiving the second transfer I decide to add more stock to the business that was slowly growing and attracting more customers. I spent KSH 2000 in buying potatoes and Omena from the market to add on to the already existing vegetable stock. Since my food stock in the house was getting finished I used the remaining KSH 1000 to buy food for my family.

Initial Payment

Transfer Amount

1200 KES ($11 USD)

over 1 year ago

Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?

I was from fetching water to be used in cooking breakfast. My phone rang and upon looking through it I found the text message that confirmed that I had received cash from GiveDirectlly. I became very happy and I rejoiced and thanked God for that.

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.

There is a big difference in my life in that the small business that I engage in is not enough to be able to satisfy the needs of my family. With the help of this money, I am now able to do a thing or two including buying food and also paying school fees for my kids. This even gives me peace of mind also motivates me to fight hard every day.

What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?

I am a woman who is the single provider for my family at the moment. My husband lost his job early this year and since then I have had to struggle all by myself to help in feeding and paying school fees for my family. When I received the money I spent KSH 500 on buying food for my family and also spent KSH 500 to pay school fees for my kids in school. My children were on the verge of being sent home due to fee s balances. Due to that, I decided to pay their school fees. I also spent KSH 200 buying household items such as soap and detergent for my use.

Enrolled

over 1 year ago

What does receiving this money mean to you?

Receiving this money means self employment for me. I had a small business of selling second hand clothes. The business was doing good. I could earn as much as 400 KES per day. My husband lost his job. He was working in Kongowea as a vegetable seller. Things became very tough when he lost his job. Buying the basic needs such as food became a challenge. This forced me to use the capital that was keeping my business running to meet the needs of the family. Eventually, my business collapsed. I have never made a come back due to lack enough money. I have tried to search for an employment to atleast cushion us from the challenges we face but I am yet to succeed. I tried selling fried fish in the village but the business failed. I was not getting enough customers. I intend to use the money I will be receiving to revive my business of selling second hand clothes. I will infact build a small house for the business instead of hawking. I will be sourcing the second hand clothes from Mombasa and come resell them in my village. Based on my experience of this business, I will be earning atleast 200 KES on a bad day. This amount will help us as a family. I will be able to buy food, clothes and also meet other family expenses such as school fees and medical bills.

What is the happiest part of your day?

The happiest part of my day is in the evening. I spend most of my days doing casual labour jobs such as digging in farms. These kind of jobs are very tedious. I always do them from the morning to afternoon. In the evening, I get time to rest and chat with my children after they come from school.

What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?

Lack of employment is the challenge I am currently facing. I have 5 children who still depend on me. Providing and meeting all the needs of these children without any kind of employment is very challenging. This because there no any known source of income. I only depend on the farm produce mainly cassava. Earning from the farm produce is also determined by the availability of customers. The customers are not constant. Some days, I sell nothing. Which forces me to look for other alternative sources of income. I sometimes work as a casual Labor. I cultivate farms of my neighbors at a fee. It is the money that I get from this kind of jobs that helps is buying food when things are tough.