The Rotary African Women’s Education Fund (RAWEF) is an initiative of the Rotary Club of Kitchener’s charitable foundation, the Kitchener Rotary Club Charitable Foundation. The Fund provides financial assistance in the form of post-secondary bursaries for eligible poor women in Africa. The bursaries provide for tuition fees, student accommodation, living expenses, books, equipment and travel. Our funded students are located in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and attend university in their home country.
The Fund was created in 2010 through a generous donation from Dr Audrey Wipper, a member of the Rotary Club of Kitchener. Dr Wipper was a Sociology professor at the University of Waterloo, but the early part of Audrey’s career was spent in Uganda and Kenya, where she studied women in Africa. This work led to Audrey’s enduring belief that the future of Africa was in leadership by its women and the creation of the Rotary African Women’s Education Fund.
