On behalf of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development, we send our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Peter Krämer. We are deeply saddened and shocked to hear of the sudden and untimely passing of this great friend.
The legacy of Peter Krämer’s life, carried out by the Peter Krämer Stiftung, will always be linked with Nelson Mandela’s own dedication to education. The bond that brought them together was their deep commitment to democracy, and their understanding that a healthy democracy depends on quality public education for all children.
Peter and Madiba met several times in the early 2000s, where they discussed their mutual concern for the world’s children. Madiba knew that democracy would remain incomplete without quality public education for all children, particularly in his home province of the Eastern Cape. He saw that in South Africa children from poor and rural communities had little chance to learn to read and write with confidence. He was anxious to improve the quality of education – especially for children living in poor and rural South Africa and throughout Africa where millions of children continued to be excluded from basic education. They believed that peace, democracy and prosperity of all of Africa is inextricably bound by our collective ability to build quality public education for all children. Madiba and Peter were also united by a visionary leadership and their common drive to achieve a more humane future. Since then Peter Krämer walked his talk. He made this his life’s work. He brought his foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and UNICEF into a special partnership, the highly successful Schools for Africa Campaign, which has since touched more than 30 million children across Africa.
Peter was a big man. He stood tall and his voice carried in a room. But he was largest in his vision and purpose –to unite the global community to make a reality quality education across Africa. He was strong and his ideas, as always, far reaching. He simply could not understand any excuse or reticence for not meeting these goals.
Just last week we discussed our renewed commitments to the Schools for Africa partnership, and resolved to strengthen our partnership into the next five years. While our hearts ache that he left us too early, we hope that the global community will support us as we reach this shared vision.
The children of Africa have lost another champion. Inspired by his life’s work, we recommit ourselves to the vision shared by Peter and Madiba – a world in which all children have access to quality education.
Hamba kakuhle Tata Peter.