Supporting Eritrean Immigrants + Refugees
ERRA provides support to Eritrean immigrants by offering services such as language classes, legal assistance, and job placement programs. We help refugees by ensuring they have access to essential resources. ERRA fosters a welcoming community through cultural events and support groups, helping immigrants build connections and feel at home.
Meet The Team
Tsegalem Woldemariam
Co-Founder and Executive DirectorTsegalem Woldemariam is an Eritrean American shaped by a people whose lives were forged through war, endurance, and unshakable resilience. After immigrating to the United States, she built a long and respected career in real estate and public service, eventually serving for twenty years as a Financial Development Officer with the City of Los Angeles Housing Department. There, she managed the city’s affordable housing portfolio and advocated for low‑income families, working to protect vulnerable tenants.
Her professional journey ultimately converged with her deeper calling: to help refugees by ensuring they have access to essential resources. Tsegalem is the author of Threads of Freedom, gathering the voices of women who fought, organized, healed, and endured during Eritrea’s thirty years liberation struggle.
Today, Tsegalem continues to serve her community in Southern California, known for her warmth, integrity, and unwavering commitment to justice. Her life is a bridge between past and present, homeland and diaspora, struggle and hope, and through her writing and advocacy, she ensures that the voices of women who carried the weight of history are never forgotten.
Community Outreach LeadMebrat Deres is an Eritrean former freedom fighter and a senior systemic psychotherapist based in the United Kingdom. After participating in the long struggle for Eritrea’s independence, she dedicated her life to healing work, specializing in trauma, family systems, and anti‑oppressive practice. For more than twenty‑five years, she has trained, supervised, and supported mental‑health practitioners across the UK, while also serving refugee and diaspora communities affected by war, displacement, and generational trauma. Her unique combination of lived experience and clinical expertise has made her a respected voice in peace building, community dialogue, and the emotional recovery of those shaped by conflict.
Mebrat Deras
Rodas Tewelde is a first-generation college student, Boettcher Scholar, and MASP Scholar completing her first year at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studies business with an emphasis in management and finance. Born and raised in Eritrea, she is deeply passionate about supporting the Eritrean community and creating meaningful impact. She is the founder of AVOICEFORERITREANS, a program dedicated to supporting Eritrean refugees and amplifying their stories. Rodas is a natural connector who thrives on building relationships and collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds.
Rodas Tewelde
Advocacy Coordinator
