Abstract

Peter Krämer talks about his ambitions and motivations for his project SCHOOLS FOR AFRICA:

"In the years 2003 and 2004 the shipping markets were booming and I decided to give something back to the society. The famous German journalist Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert encouraged me to invest in education. This was the way how I became a partner and friend of the great Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1993, who unified black and white peacefully. I encouraged Nelson Mandela to become the godfather of my initiative “Schools for Africa”, founded in 2004. The partners of this initiative are the Nelson Mandela Foundation, UNICEF Worldwide and my Peter Krämer Foundation.

How is the actual status after eleven years, where are we today? Having started in six countries in the southern hemisphere of Africa, namely South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda and Malawi, the initiative could meanwhile be enlarged to 13 countries in total. 2,800 schools could be built or refurbished by “Schools for Africa”, the learning situation of 28 million children could be significantly improved, more than 400,000 teachers could be educated, more than USD 200 million could be collected in 26 countries for the “Schools for Africa” campaign. But there is still a lot to be done. In the African continent alone, still 30 million children want to go to school, but cannot, because there are no schools. I am proud enough to say: It is my biggest life achievement. Concentration on my private relations, family, profession was never enough for me. My father taught me: “Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. If your idea is good, fight for this idea with all your personal strength.” One of the mottoes of my life is never to give up. I am following the strong advice of my father never to give up if you have a dream and if this dream is true and good."

Biography 

Peter Krämer’s first steps to a successful vocational start was to study Law and Law In-Service Training at the University of Cologne. In 1982 he took over the position as Managing Director of the family-owned shipping companies Marine Service GmbH (MS) and Chemikalien Seetransport GmbH (CST). Four Years later he became the Chairman of the Marine Service Group. Concerned about the possible forthcoming of the Iraq war by the Bush administration in 2002, which would construe a severe breach of international law, Peter Krämer and Dr. Henning Voscherau (former Lord Mayor of Hamburg) and further 24 celebrities wrote a public letter and called for the central anti-Iraq-war demonstration in Berlin on the 15.02.2003, where more than 500,000 people participated. At the beginning of 2004, Peter Krämer established a non-profitable society: the “Hamburger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Demokratie und des Völkerrechts” (free translation: Hamburg Society for Promotion of Democracy and International Law) and only two years later he founded the “Stiftung Hamburger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Demokratie und des Völkerrechts”, since 2011 it is called: Peter Krämer Stiftung (translation: Peter Krämer Foundation). In November 2004 the first of several personal meetings with Nelson Mandela took place, discussing the 2nd Millennium Development Goal, followed at the end of 2004 by an international press conference with UNICEF International and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Cape Town to launch the campaign “Schools for Africa” with Peter Krämer’s initial start-up donation of US$ 1 million. In May 2005 followed an important press conference in Berlin with Eva Köhler, wife of the German President Horst Köhler, to launch the campaign “Schools for Africa” in Germany.  The announcement of Peter Krämer’s matching offer to double all German donations for “Schools for Africa” up to the amount of € 3 million results in the amount of € 7.6 million in 2005. Prizes awarded to Peter Krämer for his social and humanitarian commitment:

2006    Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande (Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon)
2007    Internationaler B.A.U.M. Sonderpreis 2007 (International Ecological Special Price)
2009    “Pro Humanitate” Price of the European Foundation for Culture “Pro Europa”
2012    LEO Award “Mensch des Jahres” (Person of the Year) of the DVZ Deutsche Logistik-Zeitung (German Newspaper for Logistics)
2014    HOPE Award of the HOPE-Kapstadt-Stiftung (HOPE Cape Town Foundation)

More about Peter Krämer