DAKAR (AFP) - Former world number one American tennis player Serena Williams said she hopes to establish an education foundation in Africa. "Maybe in the future, we can have a Serena Williams Foundation for Education," Williams, 25, said during a tour of a youth education center in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Williams, on her first visit to Africa, arrived Wednesday in Dakar for a five-day humanitarian visit organized by the United Nations. Her arrival in Senegal followed a five-day visit in Ghana, where she participated in a UNICEF immunization health campaign. "In the US, you don't see as many children in the streets, not in school or learning a trade," Williams said. "We need to start the (education) trend now...to help build a better country. This is a great start to have this great facility," she said. Williams did not specify where she would consider establishing a foundation, saying "there are so many countries in Africa that need it." Accompanied by her mother, Williams toured the Cultural Association of Educational and Social Self-Promotion (ACAPES) kindergarten classrooms, in Dakar's working class district of Parcelles Assainies where she greeted students in French and distributed bags of candy. The UN supported ACAPES operates in the realm of the UN Millennium Development Goals, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target year 2015. Following the kindergarten tour, Williams proceeded to an adolescent youth center where girls receive training in literacy, income generation, and other life skills such as HIV prevention and conflict management. Upon Williams' visit, girls were producing juices from ginger and ditakh, a pulpy green Senegalese fruit. Eschewing her flamboyant on-court style, she was dressed casually in jeans, sneakers and a long-sleeved beige top. Later in the day, Williams was received by the US ambassador to Dakar Janice Jacobs. A meeting with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and a tennis clinic with young Dakar players are expected Friday, followed by a visit Saturday to Goree Island, known for its slave-trading history. In October, Williams attended the UN global youth leadership summit in New York, also attended by Wade. Updated on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 10:27 am EST --

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