Luanda (Angola), November 4, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - This morning, in this capital, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited the Cazenza Professional Training Center, a project financed by Brazil and responsible for the preparation of around one thousand professionals each year, with technical support from the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (Senai), the same institution from which the erstwhile lathe operator, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, graduated in São Paulo.

Moved, the President was taken by surprise at the entrance to the center, where a mural showed a photograph of him, at 15, when he was already learning a trade in a Senai course. "Senai was the doorway for everything that happened to me, because, if I hadn't learned a profession, I wouldn't be talking to you now. Senai was the best part of my adolescence, because beginning with Senai my life changed. That is the truth. After I learned a profession, I achieved what many young people do not," Lula affirmed.

According to the President, "the boy or girl who has access to a school like this one and can obtain professional training will have a different life, will be able to chose a place to work in a developing country like this one, will have more work opportunities, and will be able to earn more." Lula added that a young person trained in a profession is taking the first step towards the conquest of full citizenship.

Lula continues his visit to the African continent. His third stop is scheduled for Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. (DAS)