Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was born on October 27, 1945, in the city of Garanhuns, deep in rural Pernambuco, Brazil. Lula is the seventh of the eight offspring of Aristides Inácio da Silva and Eurídice Ferreira de Mello, dona Lindu – who has always been a great example to him.

In December 1952, dona Lindu and her eight children migrated to São Paulo fleeing drought and hunger. The journey took 13 days on a pau de arara truck [adapted in a makeshift way to transport passengers, as an improvised and uncomfortable substitute for conventional buses]. At first, the family lived on the outskirts of the city of Guarujá, 60 kilometers away from the state capital São Paulo.

Young Lula was taught to read and write at Grupo Escolar Marcílio Dias, a local public school. In 1956 the family moved to the capital São Paulo, where they lived in a room at the back of a bar in the Ipiranga neighborhood. Lula got his first job at the age of 12, in a dye shop. He was also a shoeshine boy and an office boy.

At 14, Lula began to work at Armazéns Gerais Columbia, where his Carteira de Trabalho [Brazil’s official work permit] was ratified for the very first time. He later began working at Fábrica de Parafusos Marte, a screw fact…….. Read More