In 1996, the Derg regime had fallen. Dr. Harold Adolph, a former SIM missionary surgeon at the previous mission hospital in Soddo, was asked to come back and operate for a short while to spell the surgeon there. The former mission hospital was now run exclusively by the government. Dr. Adolph and Dr. Andrew Chew travelled to Soddo, and while there, Dr. Adolph sensed the Lord calling him to start a new mission hospital. One that would again bring the Gospel alongside physical healing in Wolaitta.
One of Dr. Adolph’s former students, Dr. Kelemu Desta, was now an established general and plastic surgeon in his own right. Adolph and Kelemu teamed up and began charting the course for a new hospital. As Dr. Adolph prayed and went forth, donors came from everywhere including the USA and Switzerland. The local government had twelve acres of land allocated for the hospital. All that remained was for 18 squatter families to be carefully relocated so construction could begin. That process alone took a year and a half. The process of getting approval for all the plans took another two years. A water well was drilled to a depth of 127 meters. Things were in motion.
Finally, building began in June of 2002. Cement shortages were common, and the building seemed to go painfully slow. Through it all, Dr. Adolph claimed the promises of God in 1 Chronicles 28:20:
Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord my God is with you. He will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly.
Many people who had been helped at the previous mission hospital, now in middle age, came forward to help. Even the president of the zone, realizing that Dr. Adolph had delivered him at his birth, did what he could to help the process. The building contractor, Yakob Gebeyehu, and the Assistant Administrator, Gebeyehu Utalo, had also both been patients of Dr. Adolph’s.
On January 26, 2005, the Soddo Christian Hospital opened its doors to begin treating patients.
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