Who We Are

Joy in the Harvest (Joy) is a 501c3 not-for-profit Christian organization serving in Kigoma, Tanzania.  Joy is organized and approved by the government of Tanzania as an incorporated and registered religious organization.

The Joy in the Harvest mission is to provide expertise and resources needed to meet the challenges of poverty, disease, and spiritual lostness.    Since its inception in 1992, Joy has expanded from having one missionary family in Tanzania to employing over 25 African staff members who provide outreach and services to residents of Kigoma and its outlying areas. Joy in the Harvest has established a reputation for consistently making a positive difference in the lives of Kigoma residents for over 17 years, thus earning the respect and support of the Tanzania government, municipal and church officials, and residents.  To address the far reaching and detrimental impact of deforestation on the people and environment of Kigoma, Joy in the Harvest has created Trees for Tanzania.

Trees for Tanzania key personnel and advisors include:

• Mary Schott, Trees for Tanzania Founder and Project Director, has a B.Sc. in Horticulture from Purdue University and 10 years experience in plantation forestry.  She is currently enrolled in the Graduate School at Purdue University.  For her master’s research she is developing propagation protocols for Pterocarpus angolensis, an endangered indigenous tree species of Tanzania. She is a founding partner of Maximum Yield Associates, LLC, a company that prospects globally for highly productive sites for intensive tree plantation and tree crop establishment and management.



• Muyombi Kyungu, Trees for Tanzania Manager, holds a degree in Agriculture from Mbayo Technical Institute, and has experience as a consultant for various agriculture projects. He also has a degree in Social Work and Rural Community Development from Institut Superieur de Developpement Rural.



• Rev. Lowell Wertz, Africa Executive Director and CEO of Joy in the Harvest, is an ordained United Methodist minister with qualifications in flying, short wave radio communications, publishing and printing, and project administration.  Lowell has a B.A. degree in Sociology and a Masters of Divinity degree with a specialization in World Missions.  He has been a missionary in Africa for 29 years, and has worked in Kigoma since 1992.



• Mwenge Muyombi, Africa Managing Director of Joy in the Harvest, has extensive experience in project management, personnel management, and missions outreach. He has worked for Joy in the Harvest since 1997 and has a degree in Education from Sendwe College.



• Dr. Paula M. Pijut (Advisor), Research Plant Physiologist, Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station.  Dr. Pijut's area of expertise is plant cell, tissue, and organ culture, and clonal propagation of hardwood tree species for improvement and plantation production.



• Dr. John Gordon (Advisor), Emeritus Professor and former Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences.  Dr. Gordon has extensive experience in international forestry, particularly in third-world nations, and co-edited the book, Forests to Fight Poverty.  He is a founding partner of Maximum Yield Associates, LLC, a company that prospects globally for highly productive sites for intensive tree plantation and tree crop establishment and management.



• Dr. Clark Binkley (Advisor), Managing Director of International Forestry Investment Advisors.  Dr. Binkley has extensive background in international forestry investment, forestry economics, forest plantation systems and tropical forestry.



• Dr. Chrispinus Rubanza (Advisor), is Senior Lecturer at the School of Natural Science, The University of Dodoma, Tanzania, and former Principal Research Officer for Tanzania Forestry Research Institute.  Dr. Rubanza’s areas of expertise are forestry for poverty relief and environmental conservation, climate change, tropical forestry, and increasing nutritive values of biomass crops used for animal fodder.