The Ethiopian Herald had sat down with Abush Tesfaye with the intention of familiarizing his success story with esteemed readers. For him, the whole thing was not as easy as falling off a log. He was leading a life which was above the dead and below the living. Nobody had expected he would reach where he is in the present day. He had spared no effort to materialize his dream.
To begin with, Abush was born and raised in the heart of Wolaita Sodo. As life is not a bed of roses, he had passed through many twists and turns with a view to pulling himself out of the quagmire of poverty and standing on his feet and making ends meet. Sorrowfully, when Abel was a child his dad went to meet his maker. His mother was making a living by baking Injera at various households. She was the only person struggling for his daily bread time and again. Thus, he was forced to lead a miserable life.
“My mom was the only person wrestling with a wide spectrum of life challenges for my daily bread. I would say, she was one of the strongest women I have ever seen in my life. She was helping me until I joined grade three. Then, I began putting up for sale Sambusa for the love of our daily bread. Afterward when I reached grade eight, I got myself involved in shoe shining,” said Abush.
He added, “As a matter of fact, I did not distance myself from shining shoes until I completed grade twelve. For me, life was very difficult. It was an uphill battle. Everything was turning its back on me. I was above the dead and below the living at that point in time. But I did not give up hope. Every evening, I was in the habit of putting up for sale cigarettes.”
He kept on saying, “As times went on I opened a small shoe repair shop with small capital. Then, as I was in the business world, I was able to open a small cafe in the heart of Wolaita Sodo town. The business is lucrative. Most of my customers could not believe their eyes. They were all taken by surprise following my next move in life. For the sake of encouraging me, they kept on coming to my cafe. As time passed I bought a land in a beautiful area and embarked on building a hotel.
To the surprise of everyone, Abush kept on working hand in glove with daily laborers. He was fully getting himself in the construction of the hotel. He was working by the sweat of his brow time and again. He kept on making a miracle by making the impossible possible and the unthinkable thinkable in his life now and then.
He had got himself involved in the construction of the hotel from time to time. He had left no stone unturned to reach where he is in the present day.
Abush stressed that the hotel possesses a wide spectrum of eye-catching rooms including cafes and hotels. All the administrative teams of the hotel are on familiar terms with one another.
As a shoeshine boy most people were in the habit of loving him. Most of them were treating him like one members of their family. As Abel was in the habit of using his money wisely, he did not spend money like there’s no tomorrow.
At the time Abel opened a cafe, he found it difficult to distance himself from the shoe repairing shop. As he failed to distance himself from the shop, he kept on paying homage to the shop. He did not know what he had to do.
As of grade three, he kept on helping his mother. From grade one to three he was learning free of charge and thus textbooks were not offered to him. At that specific juncture, as Abush did not possess textbooks, an English teacher named Abidissa was beating him over and over again. At a loss what to do, he interrupted his studies and kept on spending his time idly here and there. Afterward, he joined grade three in another school and started putting on the market Sambusa.
When Abel completed grade six, he set in motion selling cigarettes as he did not want to trouble his mother.
Abush’s mother is still alive. As she is suffering from mental problem, she does not trust the fact that the hotel belong to her son. She makes fun of him.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday June 9, 2019
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
