RAWEF

Rotary African Women's Education Fund

  

 

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. Although Audrey passed away in 2018, the Fund continues Audrey’s legacy of support for African women.

Since its inception in 2010, the Fund has provided for the university education of over 100 African women. Thirty-nine women have graduated from university and the remainder are part way through their university program. We support new students every year and are continually looking to enhance our programs for the students.