Dame Claire Bertschinger Commemorates 40 Years Since Inspiring Live Aid

A nurse is observing the 40th anniversary of the moment her humanitarian work in Ethiopia became the catalyst for a global musical fundraising initiative. Dame Claire Bertschinger, who resides in Crewkerne, Somerset, was featured in a BBC news report in 1985 while providing care for starving children. This broadcast prompted musicians Bob Geldof, George Michael, and Sting to record the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. The chart-topping record was subsequently followed in 1985 by the Live Aid concerts, staged at London’s Wembley Stadium and in the US, which collectively generated over £114m for famine relief. However, Dame Claire did not become aware of the significant role she had played until two decades after the report first aired. While engaged in her work in Ethiopia, she was confronted with “heartbreaking” choices, where she had to select 70 children from a group of 1,000 to be offered food. She described the circumstances, stating, “It was a horrendous situation. People were starving, not just children. They were skin and bones.” She further added, “They needed food and there was insufficient food to go around.” Dame Claire, who pursued studies in medical anthropology, mentioned that she was initially not accepted to work abroad because she was “highly dyslexic.” She reflected on this, saying, “On the contrary, I think it helped because I’m very practical. I don’t really get fazed by challenges in life.” She joined the international committee of the Red Cross in the 1980s and spent a year in conflict war zones in Lebanon before receiving an assignment to Ethiopia. She recalled, “I’d never been to Africa before and I thought ‘why not’. I’d no idea what was going to hit me, what I was going to find.” Dame Claire was assigned to a feeding centre with a capacity for 500 children. While children received three meals a day, Dame Claire noted that thousands more consistently required nourishment. She recounted the difficult selection process: “I thought, ‘How are we going to choose? How are we going to do that?’. “I’d walk up and down the rows and choose not the worst, but those with a spark. Because the worst ones were going to die within 24 to 48 hours.” She concluded, “It was such a horrendous situation.” She characterized the effort of feeding 500 children three meals daily as “a lot of effort.” She further explained, “It’s so intensive you couldn’t think of the bigger picture.” One day, a film crew arrived at the facility’s entrance to pose questions to Dame Claire. She remembered a particular question: “One question in particular I remember was, ‘How does it make you feel having to choose who can come in and who doesn’t?'” Her internal reaction was, “I thought, ‘What a stupid question’.” She responded, “I said, ‘What do you expect? It breaks my heart’.” She added, “I couldn’t get rid of them fast enough. I had no idea what effect that film would have around the world.” The BBC news report by Michael Buerke ultimately inspired renowned musicians to collaborate in raising funds for famine relief. Dame Claire recalled the arrival of aid: “A few weeks later I was told a plane would arrive.” She continued, “They opened the doors and it was full of food, sacks of food.” Her reaction was, “I thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing. We’re saved.” Dame Claire stated that she had been unaware of her contribution to the fundraiser for 20 years, until the BBC invited her to return to Ethiopia to commemorate the anniversary. She expressed her initial apprehension: “I felt it was my fault all these people had died. I didn’t want to go back to Ethiopia, I thought I’d be hated.” However, she found, “To my tremendous surprise, I was welcomed with open arms.” She observed significant changes: “A lot had changed, there were new roads, schools, a hospital. I even met children who remembered me from the feeding centre and had gotten an education and become doctors and one was a lawyer.” For updates, BBC Somerset can be followed on Facebook and X. Story ideas can be submitted via email or WhatsApp at 0800 313 4630. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not accountable for the content of external sites. Information regarding their approach to external linking is available.