Red Cross chief visits Island to strengthen long friendship
Late in March I had the opportunity to visit the Red Cross offices in London where I invited Béatrice Butsana-Sita, British Red Cross chief officer to Jersey for a visit. She was welcomed to a reception we organised with our Patron the Lieutenant Governor Sir Jerry Kidd, Lady Kidd, the Bailiff and later met with the Chief Minister.
This is what she said:-
“It is not often that an enduring relationship can be symbolised by a Scandinavian steamship that was launched more than 130 years ago and sent for scrap in 1954. But that is exactly Jersey’s relationship with a key international charity. Paint some large red crosses down the side of the ship and call it the SS Vega and it all starts to make sense.
Her contribution to the Island cannot be overstated: anyone privileged enough to have spoken to an Occupation survivor about those difficult years will know that Jersey really was on its last legs when the Vega made the first of six trips from December 1944.
Maybe someone reading this article will remember the excitement and relief of opening one of the parcels the ship delivered from Lisbon.
More than 80 years later, Jersey has not forgotten its debt of gratitude, which endures today, among other means, through taxpayers’ support of the British arm of the Geneva-based organisation.
Recently, through Jersey Overseas Aid, the Island has given £1.2m to the British Red Cross to support a programme of delivering cash grants to people living in trouble spots such as Syria and Lebanon.It has also helped to fund the BRC’s work in Ukraine and Afghanistan as well as provide a Programme Associate scheme, whose recently completed first edition with BRC involved an Islander, Athene Jackson, spending six months with JOA, six months with the BRC and another six months on a BRC project in Kenya.
Speaking to the JEP, she said: “JOA is quite an unusual donor because it tends to fund the crises that do not make the headlines, for example in Sudan, Syria and Lebanon.”
Also during her visit, the BRC’s chief executive officer, Béatrice Butsana-Sita, visited volunteers and personnel at the charity’s Queen Street shop.
Béatrice Butsana-Sita (right), British Red Cross chief executive, at the charity’s shop in Queen Street with volunteers
Placard in the reception of British Red Cross office in London where Jersey is acknowledged for our support
Showing the CEO of British Red Cross a bit of the Island while on her two day visit to the Island.
JOA is quite an unusual donor as it tends to fund the crises that do not make the headlines, for example in Sudan, Syria and Lebanon
