He worked closely with Ibrahim Sultan Ali after the Federation with Ethiopia to secure Eritrean Independence.
Woldemariam (also known by his nickname as WelWel) was a teacher, journalist, radical revolutionary, a great debater and an uncompromising advocate of freedom.
The clarity of his thinking, which was expressed in his newspaper articles of the 19 xx1943, is now available to a new generation, compiled in a book (Mirutsat Anqetsat Ato Woldeab, 1944–1991).
In 1931 he was assigned by his then employer, the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) school, to teach in a village called Suzana.
Chief among his fears of uniting Eritrea with Ethiopia beside his love of his Eritrean people and country was the corruption and poverty that he saw when he visited Addis Ababa.