Peter Krämer School in Togo.
In 2017, the Managing Director of the Peter Krämer Foundation travelled to Togo as part of a Bundestag delegation to intensify bilateral relations between Germany and Togo. At the intergovernmental conference “Le printemps de la coopération” in Lomé, the Togolese Minister of Education, Prof. Dr. Komi Tchakpele, asked the Peter Krämer Foundation to build a school in Togo.
Upon his return, Peter Krämer was quickly ready to comply with this wish. At the beginning of 2018 Christian Krämer and Tilo Braune travelled to Togo again to get a more concrete picture of the situation on site. The urgent need was quickly apparent and the learning situation was miserable in many of the visited places.
Competent local partners were found who had experience in school construction, as various visited new schools and vocational schools showed. Through a German NGO with experience in Togo, the DAZ. e.V. and the local partner IT Village, “our” school was subsequently built.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE SCHOOL.
In September 2020, the school construction project started in the village Nanergou, in the northern Dapaong region. The local partner is the Togolese NGO IT-Village. Due to their successful construction of an orphanage, a vocational school and four school buildings, it is recommended as a powerful and reputable local partner.
A THANK YOU TO ALL DONORS.
In the following, Gérard Fiougou, project manager of “IT Village”, reports on the start of the school construction:
“It is always important to us to gain broad acceptance among the population for school constructions, because we need the help of people in the implementation of the building. A mobilization committee elected by the villagers coordinated the participation of the population. The planned process was discussed and agreed on who can help concretely with traditional knowledge, manpower and regional building materials such as sand, gravel, clay and pebbles. For the resulting transport costs, it was agreed that the women would each contribute 900 CFA francs and the men 1,200 CFA francs.
Work began in the first week of October 2020. The site was supplied with building materials. Many people participated in the earthworks for the foundation. Experts produced so-called BTC bricks, the foundation of the base walls was excavated and provided with concrete, probation irons and a self-supporting metal framework. At the same time, metal windows and doors as well as tables, benches, chairs and cabinets were ordered and installed or furnished.
The smooth start of the work showed us once again how expedient it is to raise awareness among the population and to involve as many people from the region as possible in the project. We are optimistic that we will have built a new school in autumn 2021 with donations from the Peter Krämer Foundation from Germany. This significantly improves the educational situation in the north of Togo.
Thanks to all donors!”
School inauguration.
On April 1, 2022, the “Ecole Peter Krämer” was opened with a ceremony in typical African tradition in the village of Nanergou in the poor north of Togo in the savanna region.
A warm welcome from the children.
The school is built.
Opening by Christian Krämer and the representatives of the local authorities.
First test sitting in the new classroom.
All pupils are gathered together.
In memory of Peter Krämer.
The big group photo at the end of the official opening ceremony.
Pritzker Prize 2022 FOR Diébédo Francis Kéré.
We would like to share one more special story:
We had opted for a type of school building by the architect Francis Kèrè, who comes from Burkina Faso. A few days before the school opening, it has become known that Kèrè had been the first African architect to receive the Pritzker Prize, the so called “Nobel Prize” of architects, and to announce this prize with “our” school.
“It always seems impossible until it's done.”
— Nelson Mandela