Wendy Heather Woods (née Bruce; 5 February 1941 – 19 May 2013) was a South African educator and anti-apartheid activist. Woods worked with her husband, journalist

Donald Woods Donald James Woods (15 December 1933 – 19 August 2001) was a South African journalist and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. As editor of the ''Daily Dispatch'', he was known for befriending fellow activist Steve Bik ...

, on anti-apartheid activities and both fled into

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1977. Woods herself was an active member of the

Black Sash The Black Sash is a South African human rights organisation. It was founded in Johannesburg in 1955 as a non-violent resistance organisation for liberal white women. Origins The Black Sash was founded on 19 May 1955 by six middle-class white ...

. In exile, Woods worked with various charities and after her husband's death, set up the Donald Woods Foundation. She and her family are featured in the 1987 movie, ''

Cry Freedom ''Cry Freedom'' is a 1987 epic apartheid drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods. The ...

''.

Biography

Woods was born in

Mthatha Mthatha , formerly Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known as the K. D. Matanzi ...

on 5 February 1941. She did well in school, skipping a year ahead and eventually leaving home at age 16 in 1958 to work in Pietermartitzburg as a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

. She attended

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

where she earned her Teacher's Licentiate and became a music teacher. Her family had a cottage in Transkei Wild Coast, which is where she met her future husband,

as a young person. She married Donald in 1962, and converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. They moved to

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

where her husband worked for the ''

Daily Dispatch The ''Daily Dispatch'' is a South African newspaper published in East London in the province of Eastern Cape. The weekend edition is titled ''Saturday Dispatch''. Founded in 1872 as the ''East London Dispatch'', the ''Daily Dispatch'' is the Ea ...

''. Together, the couple had six children, five of which survived past infancy. Woods described herself and her husband as "politically late developers," having grown up in a small town among racist adults. Woods joined the anti-apartheid women's group, the

. She began to demonstrate in East London with members of the group. A friend, Barbara Briceland, said that Woods was very active in various anti-apartheid campaigns. She also helped hide those hiding from the police. She visited activist

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...

in prison. Through the 1970s, the

security police Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties. Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...

bugged their home and they were subject to harassment and threats from the police. Eventually, her husband was banned by the South African government, so Woods would have to talk to people, including the media, in his stead. She also went to the

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

into the death of Biko, which took place in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. Woods took notes that her husband would later use to write about Biko's death. During the 13 day inquest, her six-year-old daughter was sent a shirt that was laced with

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

by the security police, burning her and spurring the family to choose

. In 1977, her husband disguised himself as a

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

and left the house, fleeing to

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. Woods left the next day with her children and was able to make it past the border by distracting the border official. They fled to London, settling in

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it has ...

. Her husband traveled all over the world during their exile, campaigning against apartheid and Woods stayed in London, caring for their children. Both she and her husband worked as consultants on the film that depicted their family and Biko, ''

'' (1987) where she was portrayed by

Penelope Wilton Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946), styled Penelope, Lady Holm between 1998 and 2001, is an English actress. She is known for starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom ''Ever Decreasing Circles'' (1984–1989); playing Hom ...

. In exile, Woods also worked for various

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

, including the Canon Collins educational trust and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

. She also collected "thousands of books" for the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...

, Nelson Mandela's former university. She also wrote articles against apartheid. Before his death in 2001, Donald Woods had started the Mandela Statue Fund, which Wendy Woods took over. Seven years later, she was able to unveil a nine-foot statue of Mandela which is located in

Parliament Square Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...

. She founded a foundation in her husband's name, the Donald Woods Foundation, in 2003. She worked as the foundation's chair for ten years, helping to build health clinics, educational workshops and other programs for vulnerable people and children in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

. Woods died from

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

Surrey, England Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area ...

on 19 May 2013.

References

External links

Interview with Wendy and Donald Woods
(1987) {{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Wendy 1941 births 2013 deaths People from Mthatha South African activists Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance South African educators Black Sash South African librarians Women librarians South African people of British descent White South African anti-apartheid activists South African Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism Deaths from melanoma Deaths from cancer in England