In a village in Uganda, a woman named Fatima ran a small store. She sold food and other useful items. However, she had trouble making enough money to keep the shelves stocked (储存的). To stay in business, Fatima got a microfinance loan - a small total of money from a person in another country. It was just enough for her to buy a cell phone. She let villagers make calls using her phone and charged them some money for each call. This helped her make enough money to keep her shelves stocked with items. Fatima then used the money to send her children to school and improved their lives, as well as her own.
Microfinance is the practice of giving small loans to people in need. Most microfinance loans are for less than two hundred dollars. The loans are used to start or enlarge a small business, such as catching fish, raising chickens or selling produce. Lenders are willing to make these loans because most of the people who receive them are very likely (可能的) to repay the loans.
Microfinance loans are important for several reasons. The businesses that these loans support often provide needed services or goods to their communities. Also, many of the people who receive microfinance loans cannot get money any other way. Although they have to pay a rate (比率) of interest on the money they borrow， the rate is lower than if they borrowed from a local moneylender.
It doesn't seem like such a small total of money could make a big difference，but microfinance loans have been shown to help improve some people's lives and put new life into the communities like Fatima's.
