CURRENT MISSION

Explorer, Helper, hard-worker

ABOUT ME

I have been working as a part time tour guide for various tour companies, an instructor in a small tourism college and a travel coordinator for one agency in Addis Ababa as a full time job since June, 2010. I am responsible for arranging travel for Tourists. And I do guiding them from the moment they are in-country till they depart for their home.

Before this job, I used to be a teacher. After graduation in Geography from Addis Ababa University in 2003, I was assigned to be a teacher in one of the remote area of the country by the government. As I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, which is the capital and has a better infrastructure and services, traveling more than 1000Km from Addis to teach in an area where there is no electricity and clean water was such a challenge for me.I have learned two things from my first job. First, how to sustain ones life with a very difficult situation and second how I was ignorant about the different culture and history my country. The trip I had to my first work was a three day trip by bus and taught me more than what I got from my school!

I taught for seven years in different parts of the country. Then I decided to go to school to study tourism. There, I got what my real soul is and for what purpose am created for!

Graduated being top of my class with a gold medal , I am committed to help my country in the tourism sector. I went back to school when tour guiding business was slow down due to Covid 19 and the civil war in Ethiopia to do my Masters. In June 2024, I graduated with Masters Degree in Tourism and Hotel management.

My goal was to have my own tour company and I did have my tour guiding and birth family search for adoptive children business. I am helping many adoptivees by searching and connecting them with their birth families. I also believe that Ethiopia is a must- to- see destination but the tourism business is at its infancy stage. I want to contribute my part to make Ethiopia one of the top tourism destination.

PHILOSOPHY

I am a passionate travel lover person. I set my goal to promote tourism as a whole and contribute my part for the growth and development of tourism in Ethiopia in particular.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
I did host a couple of CS but never been hosted by others. May be I will experience my first stay with CS!!!

Interests

I love travelling and meeting new people. I also like reading books watching movies and listening music. I am a big fan of pen pal and once had more than 100 pen friends around the world.

• culture
• books
• instructor
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• music
• rock climbing
• business
• teaching
• geography
• history
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I like reading history, culture and tourism related books.When it comes music, I love all types of music, especially R&B,Slow,Rock,Country.My favorite movies are romantic comedy and classical movies

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well I couldn't remember what amazing things I have done or seen at the time being but I can mention two things if it is amazing things at all.
The first one is that I fed a hyena. There is an old town called Harar, in Ethiopia. It is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Site. There, every night there is a show of hyena feeding. So with my tourists, we fed hyena standing next to it. It is scary but I did it two times.
The other one that I believe I did amazing was climbing a 25 meter (about 75 feet)cliff with an old robe. This place is located in the northern part of Ethiopia. The land form is a high plateau like a table, and no access to reach the top except this robe. At the top there is a 6th old church. I still remember that day. I was so scared of falling down

Teach, Learn, Share

I am ready to learn the different cultures from the members here and I would love to tell to everybody what I have experienced and read. I believe in sharing once experience and learned from that.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love discussing various topics so ready to learn and also share my experience!

Countries I’ve Visited

Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ethiopia