The Macha-Tulama Cooperative and Development Association, USA, Inc.Paying Tribute to Obbo Yishaaq Angoos Gurmu: An Exemplar
Educator and Civic Leader
We were shocked and saddened by the passing away of Obbo Yishaaq Angoos Gurmu on
November 19, 2015, in Finfinnee, Oromia. He was the secretary of the Board of Directors
of the Macha-Tulama Association in Oromia in the 1990s. Obbo Yishaaq gave
outstanding service to his people by rebuilding this association with other leaders and by
implementing its cultural, social, and political objectives. Throughout his life, Obbo
Yishaaq fulfilled the educational objective of the Macha-Tulama Self-Help Association
His extraordinary service had an immense impact on the education of a generation of
Oromos and this had far reaching consequences. As a teacher, director, and an
administrator, he served in different parts of Oromia and influenced the education of
future Oromo leaders across Oromia who would go on to serve the Oromo people. As the
director of the Haile Selassie I Secondary School of Naqamtte, which was later named
the Naqamtte Comprehensive High School, Obbo Yishaaq Angoos Gurmu demonstrated
his farsightedness, effectiveness and quality of leadership. He recognized the importance
of rigorously educating Oromo students so that they would receive the university
education they needed to be leaders in science, administration, politics, and other areas.
Obbo Yishaaq was a great man who shaped the intellectual careers of thousands of
Oromo students and others.
Before he arrived in Naqamttee to serve as the director of the Haile Selassie I Secondary
School, students rarely passed the Ethiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination. But
ever since his arrival, with his guidance, many students passed this exam and were
admitted to colleges and the Haile Selassie I University, later named Addis Ababa
University. As a director, he created a positive and constructive educational environment
to educate his students effectively. Obbo Yishaaq promoted academic excellence by
establishing high standards for teaching and learning.
Obbo Yishaaq was educated in the U.S., where he received his master’s degree. Although
he was a highly educated man, Obbo Yishaaq preferred to work in a dusty and
impoverished city rather than work in Finfinnee, where he could have been employed
with a high paying, prestigious job. Instead, Obbo Yishaaq committed his life to
cultivating the minds of young Oromos to prepare them for leadership in education,
science, and other areas. As a result of this, some of his students emerged as political
leaders, professors, and medical doctors. Obbo Yishaaq was a role model for the Oromo
nation. He immensely contributed to the education and enrichment of Oromo society. The
Macha-Tulama Cooperative and Development Association, USA, expresses its deepest
condolences to his family, friends, his former students, and all members of the
association in Oromia and foreign countries.
President, the Directors of Macha-Tulama Cooperative and Development Association,
