Thomas Lambie
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Dr. Thomas Alexander Lambie (1885-1954), born in Pittsburgh, United States, was a missionary medical doctor noteworthy for becoming an Ethiopian citizen, being responsible for several early medical efforts in Ethiopia (including the founding of two hospitals), and being truly godly. Dr. Lambie and his family worked in Sudan among the Nuer and Anuak people, and then sailed up the Baro River into Ethiopia in 1918, becoming the first American missionaries in Ethiopia. He began work in Sayu, Welega and Gore, Illubabor Province.
Dr. Lambie removed a small beetle that had crawled into Governor Ras Nado's ear and was causing great pain. Ras Nado's gratitude led him to write a letter of commendation and an introduction to the prince regent, Ras Teferi. When the Lambie family traveled to Addis Ababa, Ras Teferi (later Emperor Haile Selassie) requested that Dr. Lambie build a hospital there.
Lambie raised funds for the George Hospital (named after the major donor, Mr. W.S George), in the Gullele section of Addis Ababa. Construction began in 1922 for the biggest building in Ethiopia at the time.
In 1928, having initially launched the Abyssinian Frontiers Mission in 1927, then merged it with SIM (at that time "Sudan Interior Mission") in Ethiopia, Dr. Lambie negotiated permission to begin mission work south of Addis Ababa, as far as Sidamo. This was a delicate procedure because Ras Teferi was subject to strong pressures from some in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
In 1932, Dr. Lambie built a leprosy hospital on the edge of Addis Ababa, now part of ALERT. At the urging of Ras Kassa, Dr. Lambie investigated building a hospital in Lalibela in 1934, but the outbreak of the war prevented this.
Emperor Haile Selassie I appointed Dr. Lambie secretary-general of the new Ethiopian Red Cross to oversee the efforts of Ethiopian and foreign medical teams. After Italy occupied Addis Ababa (1935), Lambie was eventually sent out. He later worked in Nigeria, Sudan, Palestine, where he built the Berachah Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Bethlehem. He died at Christ’s tomb, on April 14, 1954.
There is the legend of a dream Dr. Lambie once had. He had returned to Philadelphia from his first term as a medical missionary and received a lucrative offer to join a successful medical practice. Dr. Lambie had decided to accept the offer, when one night he had a dream. In it, a foul leprous hand arose out of the heart of Africa: "Take that hand!" he was ordered. Nauseated, even in his dream, he reluctantly took the hand. And as he did, it became the pierced hand of Jesus, leading him back to his calling to Ethiopia.
[edit] Bibliography
- Coote, Robert. 1998. "Lambie, Thomas", in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. by Gerald Anderson, p. 381-382. New York: Simon & Macmillan. 0-02-864604-5
- Lambie, Thomas. 1935. Abayte! or Ethiopia's Plea for Help.
- Lambie, Thomas. 1939. Doctor Without a Country (later reprinted as A Doctor’s Great Commission). New York.
- Lambie, Thomas. 1942. A Doctor Carries On. New York.
- Lambie, Thomas. 1943. Boot and Saddle in Africa. New York.
- Lambie, Thomas. 1954. A Doctor's Great Commission. Wheaton, Illinois.
