Kiva Fellow Nila Uthayakumar

Location:: Tampa, FL, United States
Occupation:: Kiva Fellow
I loan because:: everyone deserves nutritious food, clean water, an education, a home, and a fair chance to make dreams real.
Check out:: http://nilau.wordpress.com
Member Since:: Feb 9, 2008
Bio:: Nila was born in Tamil Nadu, India and moved to the United States at the age of four. After living in Montana and California, Nila and her family settled in sunny Tampa, Florida. In college, at the University of Florida, Nila studied to earn a degree in business administration, but quickly found that what truly incited academic fervor within her was the field of African studies. When she wasn't completing African studies coursework or studying Swahili, she was working as a research assistant at the Center for African Studies, singing in the university's Africa choir, or drumming with her West African drumming class. Her university experience was also significantly shaped by involvement in student organizations. Her role as head of client relations with the Campus Kitchens Project, where she worked with a team to reduce local food waste and serve hungry families; as well as her travels to Nicaragua with another campus NGO left her with profound experiences from which to draw upon during her Kiva fellowship. Upon graduating in April 2010, she moved to the island of Zanzibar off of the coast of Tanzania as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. She spent much of her time during her six and half months there working as the project coordinator on a Johns Hopkins study on family planning and abortion practices on the islands. It was there in Zanzibar that the bond was cemented, and the fever took hold. Nila speaks Tamil, Swahili, and conversational Spanish. She hopes to speak Swahili like a local in Kenya, and highly anticipates making a return to East Africa as a roaming Kiva Fellow.
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Nila Uthayakumar's Kiva Fellowships

What is a Kiva Fellowship?

Member of Kiva Fellows Class KF14

Roaming Fellow

Jan 27, 2011 to Mar 27, 2011

Member of Kiva Fellows Class KF15

Roaming Fellow

May 9, 2011 to Jul 31, 2011

Entrepreneurs Nila Uthayakumar Has Visited

Update for Deborah

Mar 3, 2011

Hello from Uganda! My name is Nila Uthayakumar and I am a Kiva Fellow currently working with MCDT, a Kiva partner microfinance institution in Kampala. It was through MCDT that Deborah Nabeta\'s loan was [...]

Update for Adella

Mar 3, 2011

Hello from Uganda! My name is Nila Uthayakumar and I am a Kiva Fellow currently working with MCDT, a Kiva partner microfinance institution in Kampala. It was through MCDT that Adella Tushabe\'s loan was [...]

Update for Line

Mar 3, 2011

Hello from Uganda! My name is Nila Uthayakumar and I am a Kiva Fellow currently working with MCDT, a Kiva partner microfinance institution in Kampala. It was through MCDT that Lini Nanyonga\'s loan was [...]