Rauf Khan and Kishwar Khan were in trouble.

They both had big families (eight members in each), but neither was earning enough to make ends meet. They were determined to use their skills and brains to do the best they could to raise their incomes to better their and their families' situation.

Rauf has a tractor and by renting it out for plowing, he was earning Rs. 5000 per month.

Kishwar is a schoolteacher in one of HDF's community schools. He is paid Rs. 2,000 for his services as a teacher. He has also been earning additional money by working as a farmer.

The two men, like most of the hard working people of the village Khazan Dheri in the Mardan region, needed a way to support their desire to be self-reliant and to earn a decent income.

They came up with an interesting plan: obtain the resources to buy a trolley for the tractor. The trolley helps transport crops and materials for them, thus reducing Kishwar and Rauf's overhead costs while increasing their margin of profit. In addition, it was another agricultural tool which could be rented out for use and help others in the village as well.

The first step they took to fulfill this need was to apply for a loan from the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan. They were turned down. However, they were not discouraged. They sought other ways to obtain the needed loan.

Enter HDF

Through HDF's micro-credit program, Kishwar and Rauf were able to obtain a loan of Rs. 35,000. They also successfully gathered Rs. 32,000 from other sources to support their dream.

HDF's micro-credit program is based on the premise that people who really need access to financial resources are the very people who are denied that access by large financial institutions. Rauf and Kishwar's example clearly indicates this.

The notion that these people are high risk in terms of recovery of loans has been proven wrong by many such programs run all around the world. This is partly due to the fact that the loans are administered and managed by the people in the community

HDF's program not only helped the two relatives in obtaining the trolley, but its other benefit was that it did not violate Islamic guidelines of business, which prohibit the use of interest. The additional benefit of the program was that it was easily available, unlike the loans from large banks and financial institutions.

As a result of this enterprise, the two entrepreneurs have so far earned Rs. 238,000. They have saved Rs. 120,000 and have also hired two additional people at a rate of Rs. 70 per person per day

In the future, Rauf and Kishwar are planning to add more agricultural machinery to the list of their assets. With a little bit of thinking and planning, the two entrepreneurs have been able to transform not only their lives but also those of their dependents.

And HDF has once again helped two hardworking, honest and intelligent individuals retain their dignity and helped them on the path to self-reliance.