The Swedish Evangelical Mission arriving in Massawa in 1866 started to work in Eritrea, preparing for the mission in Ethiopia. Two natives, Nigusé Tashu, a successful merchant who had converted by reading the Amarigna translation of the Bible, and Amanuel, an Oromo trader, who had been cured by the missionary Lager, were ready to take up the dangerous trip to the southern parts of Ethiopia in 1877. In 1884 they managed to gain a foothold in Jima in the province of Kefa where they acquired land and established a school. Gebre-Ewostateos Ze-Mikael (ca. 1865-1905) was very much involved in the work by the Oromo in Boji where he opened a school as well. Important missionary work among the Oromo was also done by Onesimos Nesib who translated the New Testament (1893) and Luther’s Small Catechism as well as many hymns into Oromo language. He was thereby very much assisted by two Oromo women, Aster Ganno (ca. 1874-1964) and Lidia Dimbo (ca 1872-1933). In Addis Ababa, a Swedish missionary Carl Cederqvist (1854-1919), a pastor and Onesimo’s close friend from his student days in Sweden, started his work in 1904. Also he opened a school where a number of later prominent church and government leaders were educated.

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