From working class to hero

 What started out as an interesting make shift press conference in my journalism class quickly turned sour when, after our professor asked us who the president of Brazil was, every single one of us remained silent.  We violated one of the most important rules, especially since we knew about our Brazilian visitors ahead of time.  

No one did any research whatsoever on the background of their country.  It made us seem very egotistical, which we are.  After that embarrassing situation, I knew I just had to find out (and maybe the push of our professor who assigned this to us helped a little too) who this guy was.  

His name is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.  A father of five and a faithful husband, he was born in Pernambuco.  He grew up in a poor neighborhood, which forced him to have a job for the first time at the age of 12 (he officially became employed at the age of 14).  Dealing with poverty, his family did the best they could for young da Silva.  He received public schooling, at least enough to read and write.  

He became actively involved in unions after his brother inspired him to run for an office.  Eventually, he was elected as Head of the Trade Union.  After his first strike that involved police oppression and brutality, he pondered about the idea of a Worker's Party.

His work trying to change the government, from worker's rights to direct elections, paid off.  He became President in 2002 at the age of 57 and won again, with a large percentage of the votes, in 2006.

This information is available everywhere.  I think it's important for people to be aware of the world around them.  I hope eventually our country will think of the countries around us too, instead of blatantly staying inside an isolated bubble.

Taken from www.presidencia.gov