Lech Walesa was born on 29th September in 1943 in Popowo, Poland. After graduating from vocational school, he worked as a car mechanic at a machine centre from 1961 to 1965. He served in the army for two years, and in 1967 was employed in the Gdansk shipyards as an electrician. In 1969 he married Danuta Golos and they have eight children. He was a member of the illegal strike committee in Gdansk Shipyard in 1970. In 1976, Walesa lost his job in Gdansk Shipyard. In June 1978 he joined the illegal underground Free Trade Unions of the Coast , organized by Bogdan Borusewicz, Lech Kaczy ński, Anna Walentynowicz, and others. On August 14th 1980, after the beginning of an occupational strike in the Lenin Shipyard of Gdansk, Walesa became the leader of this strike. The strike was spontaneously followed by similar strikes, first in Gdansk, and then across Poland. On December 9 th 1990, Walesa won the presidential election to become president of Poland for the next five years. His style of presidency was strongly criticized by most of the political parties, and he lost most of the initial public support by the end of 1995. In 1983, he applied to come back to Gdansk Shipyard as a simple electrician. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was unable to receive the prize himself. He was afraid that the government would not let him back in. In May 10 th 2004, the Gdansk international airport has been officially renamed to Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate the famous Gdansk citizen. His signature has been officially incorporated into the airport's logo. On October 11th 2006, Walesa was the keynote speaker at the launch of the "International Human Solidarity Day". He has got many Honours, awards and honorary doctorates. Recently there was a 25 th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize winning. Many special guests came to Poland to meet with him. There was for example Dalajlama from Tibet. .