Gidada read avidly the Scriptures, and felt the urge to share what he was reading with those who didn’t yet know Christ. This desire was providential because, when Italy occupied Ethiopia in 1936, all British and American missionaries had to leave the country. The mission had to rely on local preachers.

His family name, Gidada, meant “one who weeps for his people.” But when Solan Gidada became blind at age five as a result of smallpox, his parents wept for him. But he was alive. Seven of his siblings had died from the same illness during an epidemic that swept through Ethiopia.

None of the traditional remedies restored Solan’s sight. He seemed doomed to become a beggar for life.

From Beggar to Evangelist

He was, in fact, begging at the entrance of the Orthodox Church at Aussa in 1919, when an American doctor, Thomas Lambie, passed by. Lambie, who had been serving as a missionary in Africa for a good part of twelve years, had been invited to the region by the local governor, Birru Wolde Gabriel, to assist hundreds of people who were dying of influenza.

Gidada, about ten at that time, reached out his hand to Lambie, begging, “Santim, santim!”[1] (Ethiopia’s smallest coin). Lambie gave him a coin and told him about Christ. Gidada became the first Ethiopian to turn to Christ through Lambie’s efforts.

Noticing Gidada’s bright mind, Lambie and other missionaries taught him to speak English and to memorize Scriptures. They also taught him to read and write, using the Braille code, in Amharic (Ethiopia’s official language), Oromifa (the language of Gidada’s tribe, the Oromo), and English.

In 1924, Gidada married Dinse Sholi. Their first two children died soon after birth. Later, they had three more: Rachel (1927), Solomon (1935), and Negaso (1941).

In the meantime, Gidada read avidly the Scriptures, and felt the urge to share what he was reading with those who didn’t yet know Christ. This desire was providential because, when Italy occupied Ethiopia in 1936, all British and American missionaries had to leave the country. The mission had to rely on local preachers.

Gidada received some training at the missionary station, together with another Ethiopian, Mamo Chorqa. His first assignment was to share the gospel at a toll station where traders stopped daily to pay the toll tax.

Chorqa became the first Ethiopian to be ordained as a Presbyterian minister. He was called to be the pastor of the church in Addis Ababa. Gidada was ordained a few months later, and called to the region of Sayo, where he was born.

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