Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin

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Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin, also spelled Walda Kahen (Amharic: አባ ሳሙኤል ወልደ ካህን), was the tutor and mentor of Ras Tafari Makonnen (who would become Emperor Haile Selassie I) and his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie when they were children in Harar, around 1902–1912.

Ras Makonnen Woldemikael arranged for Dr. Vitalien, a physician from Guadeloupe, to teach the boys French for about an hour a day. He also hired Abba Samuel, an Ethiopian at the French Capuchin Mission in Harar, to help with their education. Abba Samuel’s father, Alaqa Wolde Kahin, had converted to Roman Catholicism. Some nobles worried that Ras Tafari might become Catholic, but he reassured them by undergoing a rare second Ethiopian Orthodox baptism in 1906.

In his autobiography, the future emperor Haile Selassie I described Abba Samuel as a good man with great knowledge who loved learning and teaching. He said Abba Samuel was humble, learned from many people, and cared for the soul and for others. Haile Selassie said he knew him well for about ten years.

Abba Samuel died in a boating accident on Lake Alemaya on 7 June 1915, when he was one of seven people who drowned.