Building early race relations in the Red Cross
| In the days before cheap international travel, the British Red Cross’ Branches in Overseas Territories offered an opportunity for people in the United Kingdom to meet people from different cultures.
One of those Overseas Branches, the Gold Coast Branch, was founded on 11 June 1932.
Mr Lartey, assistant secretary and volunteer from the Gold | | |  | |
Coast Branch, visited the UK between September and December 1950. Mr Lartey talked about the work of the Gold Coast Branch to numerous schools across Scotland, encouraging an active partnership between the two countries. In return, he learned about Scottish culture, was able to study English for ten weeks, and even went to a football match.
Cultural exchange
He also visited a number of hospitals, cadet schools and a treatment centre for disabled ex-servicemen. His visit was one of the building blocks towards creating better race relations within the Red Cross.
A few months after Mr Lartey left the UK, John Appiah Owusu, a youth group supervisor from the Gold Coast, came to the UK for training between April and October 1951. While in Britain, he was awarded the Red Cross’ Special Service Cross for an act of gallantry, having saved the lives of two people before leaving the Gold Coast to visit Britain. It was the first time a Special Service Cross was awarded to a British Red Cross volunteer outside Britain.
When the Gold Coast gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, the Branch was closed and the Ghana Red Cross, an independent National Society, was established.
Read about our Overseas Branches
Find out about the history of Overseas Branches
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