A Red Cross nurse who “played God” during the devastating famine in Ethiopia spoke out today to mark 40 years since the iconic BBC broadcast that stunned the world.
Dame Claire Bertschinger, 71, recalled in a harrowing interview how she was forced to choose which malnourished children to feed while fighting on the frontline at a remote aid post in Mekele, Tigray province.
she told him Mirror: ‘At first I had suggested that the local staff choose them, but they refused, saying: ‘They are our brothers, our sisters, our cousins.’ How can we? You must do it, Claire. We can’t.
“The pressure was unbearable. “They must have thought I was playing God, but I certainly didn’t feel like a god.”
The former nurse and advocate went on to explain the “guilt” and “shame” she felt knowing she could only save a handful of children and send the rest to “certain death.”
‘I felt like someone who condemns innocent people to extermination camps. “I’ve lived with it ever since,” he added.
Dame Claire Bertschinger, 71, recalled having to choose which malnourished children to save during the famine that devastated Ethiopia in the 1980s (pictured in 2004).
‘I felt like someone who condemns innocent people to extermination camps. I’ve lived with it ever since,” he said. Pictured: Bertschinger with children during the famine.
Bertschinger recalled feeling as if he had changed the lives of the people he had saved, but the thought that more children died than survived still lingers in his mind.
Bertschinger said after the devastating situation, he still struggles with the painful memories to this day.
He remembered some of the children’s names and remembered playing with one of the young men, but he never forgot those who died.
As she flipped through pictures of her stay at the rescue center, she told how she once had to choose only 60 to 70 children out of 1,000 who were all malnourished.
There were so few resources available that he had no choice but to choose who would be fed and saved.
He made the decision to choose those who had “a spark of life in their eyes”, as the others were on the verge of death and would die in the coming days.
Claire explained: ‘I would take those who had a sort of spark of life in their eyes and I would just mark them.
‘I marked them with a little charcoal on the head, on the arm, and I knew that the rest would not survive the next ten days, because there was no food.’
Bertschinger recalled feeling as if he had changed the lives of the people he had saved, but the thought that more children died than survived still lingers in his mind.
Photographs of the crisis brought up tragic memories for the aid worker, who shared in the post that mothers at the time left a small lock of hair on their children’s heads in the belief that they would use it to take them to heaven. .
It was Bertschinger’s first time in Africa when he carried out his rescue work in Ethiopia, after having worked at Leeds A&E.
‘I was the only British person at the time. He had no experience in famines. You didn’t have time to reflect. I worked seven days a week, from 6 am to 6 pm We only had candles for light,” he said.
Food shortages and the country’s hunger crisis from 1983 to 1985 led to approximately one million famine deaths.
Buerk’s report was broadcast on BBC News, including his interrogation of Claire and his famous description of the feeding center as “the closest thing to hell on Earth.”
At the Mile feeding station, amid famine in Ethiopia, a mother holds her child while waiting for food, March 12, 1984.
Bertschinger made the decision to choose those who had “a spark of life in their eyes,” as the others were on the brink of death and would die in the coming days.
Millions more people were displaced and left destitute, without resources to rebuild their lives.
The devastating interview comes 40 years after the BBC broadcast a report by journalist Michael Buerk that brought the devastating famine to the world’s attention.
The disturbing images in Buerk’s BBC News report from 1984, which showed Bertschinger caring for the babies, shocked the world.
The heartbreaking film, which aired four decades ago today, would inspire Band Aid’s charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas? – followed by the Live Aid concert next year – and raise around £120 million for the African country.
Do you know it’s Christmas? went straight to number 1 in December 1984.
And the following year, Live Aid, presented simultaneously at Wembley Stadium and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, was broadcast around the world, featuring performances by major artists including Queen and Elton John.
For the 20th anniversary in 2004, Claire returned to Ethiopia with Michael Buerk.
Buerk’s report was broadcast on BBC News, including his interrogation of Claire and his famous description of the feeding center as “the closest thing to hell on Earth.”
Bertschinger shared her thoughts on the initial report which she said made a difference after shedding light on the situation and opening the eyes of the outside world to the crisis.
Michael Buerk would later describe Claire as “one of the true heroines of our time.”
The practicing Buddhist, who retired from her position as a lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in January, believes there needs to be more understanding in the world.
Bertschinger continues her work today as a trustee and ambassador of The African Children’s Educational Trust and a patron of Promise Nepal, an organization that helps leprosy sufferers and their families.
The Ethiopian famine of the 1980s was one of the worst humanitarian events of the 20th century.
Mothers of the time left a small lock of hair on their children’s heads with the belief that it would serve to take them to heaven.
Bertschinger, who worked in Ethiopia as a nurse during the 1984 famine, receives the ‘Window to the World Woman of the Year’ award at the 50th Women of the Year Awards, London, Thursday 3 November 2005.
After leaving Ethiopia, he worked in more than a dozen war-torn regions around the world, from Afghanistan to Ivory Coast to Lebanon.
She currently continues her work as a trustee and ambassador of The African Children’s Educational Trust and a patron of Promise Nepal, an organization that helps leprosy sufferers and their families.
Bertschinger also continues to work very hard to train nurses around the world.
On Friday, she and Michael Buerk, along with others, will give a talk at the London School of Economics about the Ethiopian famine and fundraising efforts.
The Ethiopian famine of the 1980s was one of the worst humanitarian events of the 20th century, and food shortages and the country’s famine crisis from 1983 to 1985 led to approximately one million famine deaths, according to the United Nations.
Millions more people were displaced and left destitute, without resources to rebuild their lives.
The famine was triggered by recurring droughts, failed harvests, food shortages, conflicts that prevented aid from reaching people in the occupied territories, and government policies that relocated families and directed aid to certain areas.
Aid organizations, including World Vision, rallied to bring help to hungry children and families during the crisis, but it was not enough.
Only when Buerk’s report aired on the BBC in October 1984 did the masses move to donate to relief efforts.