History of the Mission to Soddo, Pt. 2
How is a church born? In Soddo, it happened like this:
In 1928, the Lambies had arrived in Soddo to set up the mission station. Along with them were the Rhoad family, and three single men: Glen Cain, Walter Ohman, and Clarence Duff. They were invited to set up their homes in a place called Otona which sat atop a foothill just to the east of Mt. Damota. (Soddo sits in the shadow of Mt. Damota which was named for a previous king in this area).
They set to work building their homes which were made of local materials. According to SIM's policy, they were to have the luxury of a bathtub and a cook stove in the home, "so as to add to the missionaries' comfort." They spent their days in the homes of the Wolaitta people, learning their language with one goal in mind: to be able to formulate a Gospel presentation to the people. They established a clinic to provide practical help to the people in that area as well.
In 1929, their forces expanded. The mission team was joined by the Lewis family, Selma Bergstren, and a nurse named Ruth Bray. Within two years, the team had learned the local language enough to present the Gospel. They began preaching at Otona to those who were coming to the clinic - combining physical and spiritual ministry just as we do today at Soddo Christian Hospital. One day, a young man named Wandaro happened to come by and hear the preaching.
Wandaro was from Humbo, a little south of Soddo, and his father was a well-known witch doctor there. On that day, Wandaro had been on his way to the market at Soddo, when a terrible thunderstorm hit, and he ducked into the clinic in Otona to get out of the rain. It was there that he first heard the Gospel, which he said sounded like "honey to his stomach." He was drawn to the message, and a week later went back to hear more. After a third visit, he professed faith in Jesus Christ, and the first Wolaitta believer was born.
In the years that followed, many more professed faith in Jesus, and the missionaries were baptizing new converts regularly. The Lewises lost a baby son three days after birth, and many Wolaittans came to mourn with them. In the wake of this tragedy, many locals became Christians after observing the peace that the mission team exhibited in the face of such tragedy.
By 1936, there were 73 believers in Soddo. The mission had expanded to neighboring villages as well like Koisha, Yirga Alem, and Arba Minch. It was estimated that in all of this southern region, they had seen close to 150 conversions. But the tide of war was sweeping into Ethiopia. The Italians had invaded, and the missionaries were going to be forced to leave. Many of them left with a sadness. Despite what they had seen, they feared it wasn't enough to birth a new church yet.
But God had plans for the Soddo church...
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History of the Mission to Soddo, Pt. 1
At SCH, we are standing on the shoulders of Christian pioneer missionaries and missionary doctors who went before us. As we approach our ten-year anniversary in a few months, we thought we’d take a look at where we began, and how far God has brought us.
Dr. Thomas Lambie was a medical missionary with the American Presbyterian Mission working among the Sudanese Nuer people. In 1918, he became the first American missionary in Ethiopia when he sailed up the Baro River and began working among the people of the Wellega region. He labored there for the next 10 years, founding a hospital, a school, and a vibrant church. At this point, he combined forces with two other missionaries – Albert Rhoad and George Buxton - and founded Abyssinian Frontiers Mission.
Now at that time, Christianity had not made its way into the southern part of Ethiopia. At least fifty different people groups occupied the south, and most were engaged in animistic worship and witchcraft. Some accounts say they were devoted to the occult and the “worship of Satan”. Dr. Lambie and his colleagues were deeply burdened by this and desired to penetrate this area with the Gospel. Abyssinian Frontiers Mission merged with the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM), and was given permission to set up a mission station in the South. The most logical place at that time was Soddo.
The governor of Soddo was a man named Dejazmatch Yigezu who providentially had been a patient of Dr. Lambie’s in Wellega. He remembered the doctor, and welcomed the missionaries. (In addition, the missionaries had the support of Emperor Haile Selassie since the magistrates of Wellega had spoken highly of them). The mission station in Soddo was established by 1929, and evangelistic efforts were spreading out from there to Sidamo (Yirga Alem), and Gamo Gofa (Arba Minch).
It should be noted that Soddo was chosen as the main hub because of its easy access to Addis Ababa. At that time, it took two weeks with a mule caravan to reach Soddo from Addis. But this was considered a good distance for fetching supplies, and yet still to be a good launching point to reach the South!
In the next post, we'll tell you how the Church in Soddo began under the mission work of the Lambies and others...
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Neurosurgery at SCH?!?
What do you think happens when you combine the following:
- A country with the highest number of pedestrians struck by vehicles relative to cars on the road
- A brand new CT scanner among a population of 5 million people who previously had none
If you answered, “a lot of new diagnoses of head trauma”, you’d be right. Our CT scanner is practically smoking with all the head CTs for trauma that are being done. Most of the time, we find non-operative bleeds. But the last two weeks has been extraordinary. In September alone, we have taken seven patients to the OR with epidural and subdural hematomas that required emergency surgery.
Above are just four of the actual scans done here in the past two weeks. And there are more! We’ve had great outcomes so far, and our surgery residents and staff are doing more emergent neurosurgery than they ever could have imagined.
We praise God that He provided through our donors. Through your generosity, we got a CT scanner. And it is being used for His glory as lives are being saved. May the name of Christ go forth in southern Ethiopia as we use this gift. That is our prayer.
Empowering the Next Generation
Imagine a missionary doctor sitting under a tree in Africa, seeing patients as they line up from far and near. She sees 100 patients a day or more. In a year, perhaps 3000. In ten years, 30,000. Not a bad contribution to the problem of suffering in her country. But imagine how burned-out, how completely exhausted she is after this work. And when she finally gives up, the work is finished. Many thousands of patients were treated, and many lives saved even. But the work is not enduring. It is not sustainable.
Now, imagine that same doctor pouring her life into doctors-in-training in that country. Year after year, spending intentional time teaching 10-15 resident physicians. In ten years’ time, perhaps 20 or 30 are trained. Each of those go on to treat thousands of patients in their careers. Some of them are retained as teaching physicians, and they in turn pour into others. This is multiplication. This is empowerment. The impact of that one person is perhaps 50-fold when compared to the lone worker at the beginning of our story.
This is what we do at Soddo Christian Hospital through PAACS.
The Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons was founded in 1996 with one residency program in the jungles of Gabon. Since then, it has grown to twelve programs in ten countries. We are one of those programs. Why is it so important to train African surgeons?
Right now, 56 million people in sub-Sahara Africa are in need of surgery. In most of the continent, there is one surgeon for every 250,000 population. In Ethiopia, there are only a 300 surgeons for a country with almost 90 million inhabitants. (If WHO guidelines were met, we would have 4,150!) PAACS has the goal to train 100 surgeons by 2020. Thirty-six have been trained thus far, and God-willing, the goal will be met by 2019.
Because the program is fully accredited, our graduates are eligible to be members of the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa. And in turn, are fully licensed by the country of Ethiopia as surgeons. And the faculty actively disciple the residents during their training - teaching them not just excellent surgical practice, but equipping them with the spiritual tools to use medicine to bring people to Christ.
We praise God for this kind of empowerment and training. Of Africans. For Africa.