The following comes from an April 26 Catholic San Francisco article by Christina Gray:

The rural villagers of Malya Kwimba in Tanzania, East Africa, are giving thanks for a tractor that will help them more efficiently cultivate the fields they have worked by hand.

The tractor was a gift from parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes Church/All Hallows Chapel in San Francisco who took up approximately $9,000 in collections to have the tractor purchased and shipped to Tanzania according to pastor Father Dan Carter.

Parishioners learned about the village’s need for a tractor from Father Carter and Father Narcis Kabipi, a visiting priest from the Diocese of Bunda in Tanzania, who has spent the past few years helping out at the parish.

“Since I grew up in that area, I know people don’t have much means to cultivate the land,” he said. Hand cultivation is still a common, but laborious and inefficient means of growing food.

There are around 9 million Catholics in Tanzania, about a quarter of the total population.