{"id":47017,"date":"2025-06-27T01:48:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T08:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=47017"},"modified":"2025-06-26T15:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T22:50:09","slug":"new-tractor-celebrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/06\/27\/new-tractor-celebrated\/","title":{"rendered":"New tractor celebrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 28, near Mbale, Uganda, the Abayudaya Jewish community celebrated the arrival of a tractor, gifted to them by Harmony Foundation\u00a0<\/span><\/i>of Canada. <\/i>(photo from Elisha Higenyi & Tarphon Kamya \/ JRU)<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i>On May 28, near Mbale, Uganda, the Abayudaya Jewish community celebrated a unique occasion \u2013 the arrival of a long-dreamt-of tractor.<\/p>\n

For decades, the Abayudaya have lived as small and vibrant Jewish communities in a predominantly Christian and Muslim region; their faith rooted in a century-old embrace of Judaism. Life in this rural area is beautiful but challenging. Clean water is hard to find, health care is distant and most families, living on $2 a day, can\u2019t afford to provide their children basic education. A tractor may seem unremarkable to many of us, but, for the Abayudaya and their neighbours, it is life-changing. With it, they can cultivate more land, increase yields, feed more families and send more children to school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This gift of a tractor was made possible by the Harmony Foundation of Canada, which is supporting sustainable agricultural initiatives with the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda through Jewish Response Uganda. JRU is a\u00a0 <\/span>nonprofit founded by members of the Abayudaya in 2017. The organization has worked to improve lives by offering training in sustainable agriculture, helping farmers grow high-value crops, and supporting initiatives in education, health care and women\u2019s empowerment.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
With a tractor, the community can cultivate more land, increase yields, feed more families and send more children to school. (photo from Elisha Higenyi & Tarphon Kamya \/ JRU)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a region where religious divisions often deepen hardship, JRU has chosen a path of inclusion. Today, Christians, Muslims and Jews work side by side in JRU programs, united by shared needs and a common hope for a better future. This inclusive approach fosters interfaith cooperation, mutual respect and a stronger, more united region.<\/p>\n

For more information, watch the Harmony Foundation\u2019s video The Abayudaya; Jews of Uganda<\/i> on YouTube. You can email JRU at info.jruganda@gmail.com, or be in touch with Tarphon Kamya, project manager of JRU (tarphon800@gmail.com), or Elisha Higenyi, spiritual leader at JRU (erisha1200@gmail.com).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013 Courtesy Harmony Foundation of Canada<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 28, near Mbale, Uganda, the Abayudaya Jewish community celebrated the arrival of a tractor, gifted to them by Harmony Foundation\u00a0of Canada. (photo from Elisha Higenyi & Tarphon Kamya \/ JRU) On May 28, near Mbale, Uganda, the Abayudaya Jewish community celebrated a unique occasion \u2013 the arrival of a long-dreamt-of tractor. For decades, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4819,5326,24142,24140,24141,2763,3690],"class_list":["post-47017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-abayudaya","tag-agriculture","tag-harmony-foundation-of-canada","tag-jewish-response-uganda","tag-jru","tag-philanthropy","tag-uganda"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}