Azimullah Mohammadi works with surveying equipment Thursday as Rick Labonte, right, gives instruction during a four-week pre-apprentice program being offered at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 567 by the Union Construction Academy and is a collaboration of the Maine AFL-CIO and the New England Laborers Training Fund. The popular monthlong program gives people from underrepresented backgrounds an opportunity to get some foundational skills to prepare them for an apprenticeship. It is funded by a Maine Department of Labor grant and facilitates eight certifications in skills including first-aid, CPR, scaffolding and hazardous waste procedures. Edouard Ekoga, far left, moved to Maine from Gabon and hopes to learn skills that will enable him to work with solar panels. To the right of Mohammadi are Mohammad Mohammadi and Omar Omarzai. Mohammadi, Mohammadi and Omarzai were U.S.-trained Afghan pilots who fled Afghanistan after being targeted by the Taliban. This coming Sunday, the Sun Journal will profile two of the 25 Afghan pilots who came to Lewiston after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal