Self-Portrait - Visitor's Poem

by Yeshi Gemaneh
(Oakland, CA, USA)

You whom I see in me
From the black soil of Africa
A big family tree
With many branches around you
As you vividly see yourself . . .
You've never been told your memory of
Dusseldorf
From your room, you listened to the flow
Of the Rhine River. . .
Natural light twinkles through a window
Family picture hangs on a wall
A potted plant at the very end
Thinking of the future, reliving the past
Past is history, future is hope
Present is hardship, don't give up . . .
Soon I fall asleep, bidding good night
To that cozy room

Education:

l. I was educated in West Germany in the cities of Aachen & Dusseldorf. Graduated in Social Work and Municipal Administration.

2. General Clerical Certificate, Berkeley Career Center, Berkeley, CA. Graduated on top of my classes.

3. Graduated from Healed Business College in Administration, majoring in Computer Science - I was in the Dean's List.

Work Experience:

1. Development Project Study Agency and United Nation Industrial Development Office, as Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant.

2. Executive Secretary to the Mayor of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

3. Addis Ababa University, Deans of Education and Law School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

4. Worked for I.L.O (International Labor Office) Regional Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

5. Different places in Bay Area, including at California University President's Office - for Vice President of Manpower and Agriculture as Administrative Assistant.

Hobbies:

Reading, knitting, cooking and writing poems. I speak: Amharic, English, German and Oromo.