Kened Shilla ’28, a political science major and Company Scholar in the John Charles Meditz College of Arts and Sciences, spent this past summer in Tanzania interning with the nonprofit Wine to Water. The experience combined his Jesuit-rooted passion for service with his commitment to global development.
Shilla’s journey began at Fairfield as a Humanitarian Action Fellow, a role that connected him to Wine to Water’s mission of expanding clean water access. “One of the main reasons I applied to become a fellow was because of the club’s ongoing partnership with Wine to Water,” he said. “I was really inspired by the work they were doing, especially through the annual filter build at Fairfield.”
By helping with fundraising and outreach on campus, Shilla saw the impact of global service work early on. Those efforts eventually opened the door to his internship in Tanzania, where he was eager to contribute both personally and professionally.
In Tanzania, Shilla supported WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) programming across villages. His responsibilities included organizing training sessions with local teams and launching a Google Classroom to support program communication. He also drafted program summaries, documented community stories, and researched information for WTW Tanzania and Uganda to explore expansion potential.
“What’s surprised me most is how connected the Wine to Water teams are in the work they do,” Shilla noted. “Despite being spread out across the globe, they consistently collaborate and support one another. Witnessing that level of connection and coordination firsthand has been truly eye-opening.”
For Shilla, the work was about more than professional development. “I’ve always been passionate about service ever since high school,” he said. “The idea of gaining more cultural understanding of regions in Africa is what really drew me to this opportunity. When I learned about Wine to Water’s focus on clean water access in Tanzania, and as a Tanzanian myself, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It stood out to me as a place where I could both contribute meaningfully and learn a lot about the local culture that I didn’t already know.”
Shilla encourages the Fairfield community to seek out service-focused opportunities like the one he experienced in Tanzania. “It really reminded me that global change often starts with small, local acts of collaboration and care,” he said. “There’s so much value in stepping outside of your comfort zone and engaging with communities that have different lived experiences, both for personal growth and to contribute to something greater.”
Read more about Company Scholar Kened Shilla '28 in the winter 2024-25 issue of Fairfield University Magazine.
