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I want to gloss over today the topic I launched when the EQUASS Certificate was attributed to AFID (National Association of Families for the Integration of the Handicapped Person), and which is just this very simple sentence: “There are happy hours on happy days”.

What better themes for these difficult times than the common celebration of such happy moments as these are?

I had the pleasure of being present on the day when the specialists were holding a meeting to decide on the award of the EQUASS certificate to AFID.

And since there are no coincidences, it was precisely during the award ceremony to AFID that, on another happy moment, I found out that another EQUASS certificate had been awarded to the Mira Sintra CECD. I was really very happy.

Such recognitions by competent bodies are what provide strength and enthusiasm to all those who work in these institutions.

Because the smiles we see when we visit them are the result of great affection and great professionalism, but what we all know is that this is an arduous and difficult work, which demands from all those involved stubbornness, persistence and much faith.

When I was invited to attend this ceremony, I almost invited myself to visit the CECD, because I always make a point of becoming fully acquainted with the institutions which do me the honour of wanting my presence during their happy moments. Only thus can we talk about what we have seen.

I was received in the CECD with a performance of the wondrous “Bird of the Soul”. And it is only those who are really interested in the issues of the handicapped that are able to assess the hours of effort and forbearance that stand at the rear of a performance such as this one. And it is maybe now, more than ever, in the circumstances we are going through, that our most fragile and vulnerable citizens will be those that teach us the lesson we more than ever require: not to give up, know that every step we take backward prepares us for the two we have to take ahead.

If we are able to overcome certain conditioning factors that tie us to demands that we cannot satisfy, maybe we will be able to achieve the prime objective of these so difficult times: help more people with the same monetary means.

We already have excellent institutions, such as are demonstrated by these certificates.

What is now required is that they are not just able to survive but to go further in the help they provide.

Congratulations Mira Sintra Educational Centre for the Handicapped Citizen.