9th Keren High School Reunion

Seattle 2025

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A Reunion with Strong

Sense of Community

By Bahlibi Tekle

 

The 9th Keren Highschool reunion was held in the city of Seattle from July 4 to July 7, 2025 at the University of Washington. When the decision was made to do the reunion in Seattle many people were not convinced as they had no any idea how the Seattle Keren community would handle this extraordinary reunion. The planning by our Seattle board members namely, Abraha Zerai, Jowet Kifleiesus and Michael Ngusse was a living proof how they convinced the community members of Seattle to be involved to the best of their potential. Everything happened much beyond our expectations. Specially the involvement of our hard-working Jowet, one of our youngest board members, made it possible to have the involvement of the much-needed youth group.

Most of the guests from outside Seattle arrived on Friday July 4 and the dormitories of the University of Washington were ready for them. Our Seattle board members including Zaineb Warah were welcoming the guests. Very vibrant Seattle community members served dinner and coffee to everyone who attended that evening. Music and dance continued throughout the night till 12:00 a.m. Around 200 people attended the Friday evening.

The much-anticipated gathering started on Saturday July 5 at around 10:30 a.m.

As usual the meeting started by lighting the candles for our martyrs and dead. Tesfagabir Mesghina and Bahlibi Tekle led the ceremony calling Redie Zeray, Brot Tekle, Welday Abe, Jemil Petros and Dr. Woldemariam gebresilasie to light the candles in memory of our martyrs, passed away students, and community members who attended the past reunions but who are not with us. Then one minute silence by all participants followed to remember everyone who died collectively.

Before we began our program, a congratulatory and good wish letter from Mr. Woldesus Amar was read by Jowet.

The program started with the special MC s, Jowet gual geometra and Belina Zemhret.  The addition of Belina Zemhret to Jowet refreshed the environment promising the youth involvement. Our first speaker was Abraha Zerai, the chair of the board who gave a welcoming speech and stressing the importance of the diversity of Keren. Then followed Hassen Fereg, a board member, who explained the history and mission of Keren high school reunion.

The first invited guest speaker was abba Negusse Feseha, the pastor of the Seattle Catholic community. Abba Negusse presented an excellent speech about the Unity, Respect, love and diversity in Keren. The next speaker was Tekle Kidane, the son of the director of Shishita. Actually, shishita comes from the word SOCIETA in Italian. He explained the formation and the opportunities shishita provided with the Keren people. Following this presentation everyone was so excited to see the participation of youth in number to present topics very important in nowadays. Sham Desbele, R.N, in coordination of Kibra Gebre, R.N focused on Youth Wellness from a nursing perspective and the dangers of postpartum depression. Awet Russom, a cyber security specialist, gave a special presentation on Youth success. Blain Esayas discussed about Autism and how to handle autistic kids.  Thomas Michael enlightened the audience what AI or artificial intelligence can do. Araya Gebreselasie discussed the timely important topic which is Youth Challenges and how to tackle problems. Asefaw Abraha outlined the information about how youth can get scholarships in U.S. A. Our last speaker was Dr. Sultan Michael presented about Youth health on teen and adolescence.

At a time, there was an open Mic to present Keren jokes. At the end of the day a special award was given to Abraha Zerai, Jowet Habtu, and Araya Gebreselassie for their unlimited contribution for the success of this reunion.

The day of the presentations was fun full of special information. The conference room was so full and many standing on the doors and sideways. There were at least 300 participants listening the presentations excluding the people outside the conference room

Lunch and dinner were provided in courtesy of the Seattle Keren community.

After dinner the skilled musicians started to enlighten the night. We were very fortunate to have the artists; Sami Ghenbot, Rezene, Robel and his wife, and their supporting cast.   Afeworki Shihin sang our old Keren songs to entertain the reunion participants.

Sunday was the BBQ Day which is everyone favorite. The BBQ was led by the three A s as they say. These were Asgedom Dirar, Aregai Negash, and Abraham Tekle. They prepared an abundant food more than enough for every one. I would guess there were close to 500.

In conclusion, the Seattle reunion was so successful. Everyone who came from Canada, the whole USA, Germany and Australia gave very positive feedback. All the expenses were covered through the Seattle community where everyone from Keren contributed voluntarily.

I would like to thank everybody who Participated and the board members who worked continuously for eight months in coordination of Abraha, Jowet and Michael.

Thank you, the Keren Seattle community. We would love to be back in Seattle time permitting.

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