Yemane Semere - Featured Employee

Now that we have this wonderful website to showcase our company, we are going to be featuring a G&H employee each week. In deciding which employee should go first, I decided to start with the one with the longest service – Yemane Semere!

Yemane joined G&H as a machine operator on January 27, 1989, when we were located in northwest Houston. I asked him what he remembered about his early days at the company and he said, “When I first started with G&H 20 years ago, I remember it being small. Now G&H has grown to a huge company. I’ve been through the good and the bad and I’m glad to still be with this organization.”

If you look at Yemane’s picture, you will see that he is standing next to his favorite machine, our Trumpf Tubematic laser machine, which he has operated since our purchase of it back in 2004.

Yemane was born in 1960 in a small country in Africa called Eritrea. It is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the northeast and east by the Red Sea, on the west and northwest by Sudan, on the south by Ethiopia, and on the southeast by Djibouti.

In 1985, Yemane married Almaz. At the time, the war in Eritrea to regain independence from Ethopia was failing so in 1986, Yemane and Almaz made the decision to leave family and come to the United States to seek asylum. They first went to New York and later made their way to Houston. After many long years of waiting, they were able to obtain their U.S.A. citizenship and have been citizens for 16 years!

Yemane and Almaz have been married for 23 years (congratulations for hanging in there) and have three children: a son Biniam, 18, a daughter Eden, 13, and a daughter Sabina, 5. All three children were born in Houston, Texas!

I asked Yemane what he does with his time off and he smiled when he said, “It’s all spent with the kids.” He explained that Almaz works the night shift for a company that assembles computer chips and he works day shift at G&H. They do that so there is always a parent at home with the children. He further explained that every day when he gets off work, he takes Biniam (a black belt) to Karate. On Saturday afternoons after work, he takes Eden and Sabina to play soccer. It’s all about the kids!

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about Yemane – I sure didn’t! He used to play soccer – and lots of it! He was part of a tournament team and played in many different places, including Washington D.C., Seattle, Dallas and Canada. He played until about five years ago (hey, wasn’t that when Sabina was born?).

Yemane is an active member of his church, Eritrean Tewahedo Orthodox Church of Christ, and his local community. When you see Yemane, I hope you will join me in thanking him for his hard work and service at G&H!