Free cash brings smiles to Alego villagers

Siaya, Kenya: A visit to the remote part of West Alego leads us to Ungoma village and to the home of 81-year-old Margaret Anyango, who has an interesting tale to tell.

Mama Anyango was ‘blind’ just a few months ago but can now see.

She claims her eyesight has been an issue for her since 1993, and her inability to seek medical attention due to lack of funds only made it worse.

“Ne an mwofu to sani aneno (I was blind but now I see),” she says, breaking into a wide grin. Seeing our skeptical looks, she goes on to explain.

Mama Anyango shared her experience with a non-government organisation that operates both in Siaya and Mbale, Uganda, and that came to her rescue, giving her the money she needed for medical care.

When Give Directly set foot in the county, many cautioned that the money being promised to locals was not real while others thought the windfall was somehow linked to US President Barack Obama.

FREE HAND

But speaking to The Standard, Give Directly Kenya Field Director Joe Huston set the record straight, saying the cash transfer programme is a result of generous donations from citizens of the world and is not linked to the Obamas or the US government.

“This programme is based on the premise that giving the poor money to spend on their own priorities is the best way to make donor funds work for their benefit,” he said.

Mr Huston said they currently have over 8,000 residents enrolled and set to receive cash transfers, which come in three instalments.

“We have dispatched teams to villages across the county who gather data of all potential beneficiaries. These field officers verify the eligibility of households, conduct back-checking of data given during the first visit, and when the organisation is satisfied, cash transfers are made,” he said.

The money is sent using the M-Pesa cash transfer platform and each beneficiary gets a total of $1,000 (Sh87,000).

“We conduct continuous monitoring and evaluation to determine whether the beneficiaries have received the money and how they are spending it,” he said.

The beneficiaries we spoke to equate Give Directly’s funds to manna from heaven. They say it is an answered prayer because unlike conventional NGOs who fund development projects such as health facilities and sinking of boreholes, Give Directly is giving real money with no strings attached.

Besides the cash, beneficiaries also get a free mobile phone for M-Pesa transactions.

In Mama Anyango’s case, she first received Sh7,000 and used Sh4,000 on medical treatment at Siaya District Hospital before learning of a free eye clinic at Kisii Level Five Hospital.

She used the balance to travel to the hospital where she had cataract surgery that successfully restored her eyesight.

The elderly woman is thankful to the NGO for not only putting an end to her 20 years of ‘blindness’, but also for her new iron sheet roof that replaced her previous grass-thatched one that leaked whenever it rained.

LIVES TOUCHED

Anyango said she has now saved some of the money for future use and spends a little for her daily upkeep.

Godfrey Ochieng is another beneficiary who says the cash helped him build a home after his dilapidated hut collapsed, forcing him and his family to move to his brother’s house.

“I am yet to fix the doors but I am very happy and appeal to Give Directly to give us more and more,” he said.

In South West Alego location, we meet Beatrice Awuor whose sitting room is a mini shop where villagers often throng to buy goods.

Awuor tells us she and her husband, a casual labourer, combined their efforts and put up the shop immediately she received Sh7,000 from the organisation.

When the second amount came in, the couple bought three cows, which they now hope to fatten and sell at a profit to enable them build a modern iron-sheet house.

“When it’s done, I will not have to walk long distances to fetch water because I will be able to harvest rain water,”  she said.

Give Directly has a number of notable board members who include Chris Hughes (Facebook co-founder), Raphael Gitau of Tegemeo Institute, Michael Faye McKinsey, Paul Niehaus and Rohit Wanchoo.

Some of its donors include Google Giving, Nike Foundation, Good Ventures and others. It also collaborates with various universities including Harvard, Princeton and University of California Berkeley.