Inside Alamata Feeding Camp in northern Ethiopia (credit: Keith Ketchum)

40 years ago on 23 October 1984, Sir Bob Geldof saw the BBC’s landmark report from famine-ravaged Ethiopia. As a result, he co-founded ‘Band Aid’ and released ‘Do they know it’s Christmas?’ which changed the face of fundraising forever. On the ‘Flying for Life’ podcast, MAF’s Keith Ketchum recalls how his team saved millions from starvation and enabled the BBC to capture that devastating footage.

In episode nine of MAF’s Flying for Life podcast ‘40^th anniversary of the Ethiopian famine’, then co-pilot and chief aircraft engineer, Keith Ketchum, tells Josh Carter how he and his crew flew in hundreds of tons of food, which saved a nation from starvation.

Today, Keith works as MAF’s maintenance training coordinator (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

In 1982, the aid organisation ‘World Vision International’ bought a Twin Otter aircraft in a bid to fight the growing famine in Ethiopia. They had no qualified staff to fly or maintain the plane, so they reached out to MAF for help.

In October 1983 at the age of 25, Keith was three months into his flight training in Canada when he got called up by MAF. The qualified aircraft engineer was about to fight one of the worst famines in modern history:

‘I’d been an aircraft engineer in the airlines, which I had left to start my flight training at a Christian university. The rains in Ethiopia had failed for three or four years in a row and there were pockets of food shortage. They said, “We need you to go to Ethiopia or 87,000 people are going to die.” I thought that was quite compelling and to make a long story short, I packed my bags.’

Keith Ketchum – then MAF co-pilot and chief aircraft engineer

Alas, Keith’s dream of becoming a MAF pilot was put on hold… for now.

Keith – the unexpected co-pilot

Keith’s new assignment was to maintain the MAF / World Vision aircraft – the first international relief plane to fight the Ethiopian famine. By February 1984, Keith was in post.

The Twin Otter would be Ethiopia’s 1st int’l plane to fight the famine (credit: Doug Dyck)

As chief aircraft engineer / head of maintenance, this ground position would involve the inspection of the Twin Otter to keep it airworthy. But as soon as the rest of the crew (Captain Will Rew, Captain Neil Barton and fellow co-pilot / engineer Doug Dyck) got wind of Keith’s flight experience, that all changed:

‘I had 100 hours flight experience and a private pilot’s license and that’s all they needed. On the first morning, I sat down at breakfast with the other three crew members and they said, “Now you are going to help us fly, aren’t you?” I said, “Sure!” so for three weeks of the month we would fly every day in remote locations and then on the fourth week, we would come back to Addis Ababa for maintenance. That’s when I really had to get to work because I was also the engineer!’

On top of his engineering role, Keith ended up personally piloting half of his crew’s flights (hundreds of legs) in the fight against famine.

Keith – the unexpected co-pilot fighting the Ethiopian famine (credit: Doug Dyck)

One of MAF’s bases at Mizan Teferi in southwestern Ethiopia (credit: Keith Ketchum)

‘We’re using a teaspoon, but we need a wheelbarrow.’

The crew were split into two teams of two, with one captain and one co-pilot / engineer in each team. They rotated accordingly.

During their shifts, Keith and his captain, Will Rew, were airborne just before sunrise to make the most of the daylight. For 12 long hours, six days a week, they would take it in turns to pilot each leg of the trip, carrying lifesaving cargo. On average, flights took around 30 minutes.

The plane could carry up to two tons of food at a time. They delivered up to 20 tons of food per day to a range of bases including Arba Minch, Mizan Teferi and Bale Goba in the south, Gambella and Camp Bulga in the west, and later Alamata and Kombolcha in the north:

‘We would fly from sun-up to sundown. World Vision would have a warehouse full of grain bags. We would throw 20 x 100 kilos bags into the cabin – they were heavy! – and strap them down. We’d often carry milk powder and cooking oil too.

‘The fuel and grain were positioned at each base at the end of a road, then we would fly them to places beyond roads. We would just fly from one airstrip to another, drop off the grain and come back for another load. We would do that 10 or 12 times a day. We went all over the place and worked as much as we could.’

The crew deliver food to Bume Feeding Camp, south-west Ethiopia (credit: Doug Dyck)

Hundreds of starving people wait for food at Mardur Airstrip (credit: Keith Ketchum)

On average, Keith and Will delivered a staggering 72 tons of food per week – that’s 288 tons per month. Keith claims that the team set a world record for the most cargo carried in a Twin Otter plane:

‘When we were operating in the middle north of the country, we flew a six-minute trip from one airstrip to another. By road this would have taken 11 hours by truck. With a six-minute flight however, we could do 30 trips in one day carrying two tonnes each time, so that’s 60 tonnes in one day. We did that three days in a row and no one has disputed that record so far.’   

As per the UN, some 1 mill. people died during Ethiopia’s 80s famine (credit: MAF Archive)

Nearly 3 mill. people were displaced during this famine as per the UN (credit: MAF Archive)

Despite the monumental amounts of food, Keith recalls when things took a turn for the worse:

‘When we flew further north later in 1984, that’s when it started to really hit. We were called into the office around July and World Vision’s country director told us, “Guys, we’re using a teaspoon, but we need a wheelbarrow” and that’s when we realised that the situation was very dire.’

Keith Ketchum – then MAF co-pilot and chief aircraft engineer

Despite the food aid, ‘the situation was very dire,’ says Keith (credit: Doug Dyck)

One bag of grain displaced by one journalist

It was around this time that Keith and Will were asked by World Vision to fly some BBC journalists around Ethiopia to document the worsening crisis. By his own admission, Keith wasn’t best pleased:

‘I actually had a very dim view of journalists. When we carried a journalist, we had to take a bag of grain off because of their weight. I thought they were cutting into our lifesaving effort, so every time a journalist travelled with us, I was a bit miffed!’

Little did Keith know that when Will and Keith flew the BBC’s Michael Buerk, Mohamed Amin and Mike Wooldridge to Alamata in northern Ethiopia, that they would enable one of the most famous news reports of the 20^th century, which would set off a chain reaction that would change the face of fundraising forever. Keith takes up the story:

‘We found out we were taking them two days before we actually flew them. We took them up to Mekele – the capital of the Tigray region in the north. It was very bad up there. I walked around the feeding camp with Mike Wooldridge carrying his tape recorder.

‘We were supposed to fly them to Lalibela Feeding Camp where they could do their filming but unfortunately, we got word that that it had been overrun by the rebels. We had to change our plans and fly them to a place called Alamata instead.

‘We circled around some of the feeding camps in Alamata and I let Mohamed, the videographer, get into my co-pilot seat. In the Twin Otter, you can just lower the window and put the lens out, so he got some excellent aerial footage of the feeding camps.

‘From there they drove to a place called Korem where their landmark footage was filmed. When they returned from Korem, we flew them from Alamata back to Addis Ababa where they caught their flight back to London. The film was then edited and aired on 23 October.’

Keith and Will fly the BBC crew over Alamata Feeding Camp (credit: Keith Ketchum)

Chain reaction

Michael Buerk’s report was broadcast by 425 television stations around the world (source: The Guardian). Millions saw it including activist and musician Sir Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats.

So appalled by the unfolding events on his screen, Bob called up fellow musician Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they formed ‘Band Aid’ – a collection of the biggest artists of the time including George Michael, Culture Club, Sting, Paul McCartney, U2, Duran Duran, Bananarama, Spandau Ballet, Status Quo and Kool and the Gang.

They released the charity hit single ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’ which shot to number one in December 1984. It became one of the UK’s fastest selling singles and sold over 11.7 million copies worldwide by 1989. In its first year alone, it raised £8 million for Ethiopia. 40 years later, royalties from the single have raised more than £200 million (source: LBC).

Band Aid led to the ‘Live Aid’ charity concert in July 1985 – one of the biggest TV broadcasts and global satellite link-ups of all time featuring Queen, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Who, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Madonna, Led Zeplin, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and many more.

Live Aid was watched by a global audience of 1.9 billion people (about 40% of the world’s population at the time) which has raised around £150 million for famine relief.

Keith’s view on journalists is now very different:

‘I had no idea what the result of this would be. We always have things to learn. I have a very high estimation of journalists now. We couldn’t have done this without them. It just shows that all of us are needed – pilots, engineers, aid workers, journalists, and of course those who are sending in money.

‘The sky became black with Hercules aircraft and a nation was saved. I think Sir Bob Geldof and his buddies taught a generation that it was cool to be compassionate.’

Keith Ketchum – then MAF co-pilot and chief aircraft engineer

In 1998, MAF left Ethiopia because the Ethiopian Investment Authority wanted Ethiopians to own and operate their country’s air services. In 1999, Keith helped establish Abyssinian Flight Services with Solomon Gizaw – an Ethiopian MAF pilot. Today, Solomon is its founding director and the organisation boasts 17 aircraft.

Solomon Gizaw (L) now runs Abyssinian Flight Services in Ethiopia (credit: Keith Ketchum)

Catch MAF’s Keith Ketchum on episode 9 of the ‘Flying for Life’ podcast where you can hear the full story.

News Coverage

Radio 4’s ‘Moral Maze’ 
BBC Radio Kent ‘Daytime with Dominic King’ (listen from 13 mins & 15 secs onwards)