By Honorary Reporter Madonna Youssef from Egypt

Illustration and photo = Omaima Abdelrazik, Madonna Youssef

The AfriKorea project chronicles those from Africa with a high interest in Korea. One of them is Mohamed Mohy, an Egyptian who dreamed of studying Korean in Korea and did so. He is now a tour guide in his homeland for speakers of Korean and English. 

 This is an illustration of AfriKorea's log. (Omaima Abdelrazik)

The following are excerpts from the interview.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Mohamed Mohy and I graduated with a bachelor's degree in tourism and hotel management at Helwan University in Egypt. I am now a tour guide in Egypt for speakers of Korean and English.

                          Mohamed Mohy is a tour guide in Egypt for visitors who speak Korean and English.

Why did you learn the Korean language?
In college, I heard of a partnership between the Korean International Cooperation Agency and my university that offered a scholarship to learn Korean from native speaker teachers. So I began to learn the basics of Korean and eventually completed studying the language at the Korean Cultural Center in Cairo after more than a year.

Another reason I chose to learn Korean is that Korean tradition and culture are similar to those of the Middle East, especially for Arabs, such as respect for elders and freedom of religion.

How did learning Korean affect your career?
I became a tour guide for Koreans. As the number of tour guides for Koreans in Egypt is very small, I feel special to be among the 12,000 such guides.

What challenges did you face during your journey?
The challenges I faced while in Egypt and Korea were how to improve my Korean and master the language, and that's why I traveled to Korea. With tourism in Egypt seeing tough times, I decided to complete a course in Korean interpretation and learn more about how Koreans live.

What makes living in Korea special?
I would say the potential for success. The more effort you put in, the more success you gain. Here, no effort is lost, something I couldn't find in other places.

What advice do you have for those wishing to travel to Korea? 
Set a clear goal for yourself. Nobody can live without a goal. Mine was traveling to Korea, and I spent five to six years preparing to achieve that target. I found this objective very hard but not impossible. Every year, I kept working and saving money, and though it took a long time, I did it in the end.

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.