Exile
Owens moved swiftly. With his wife and infant son in tow, he escaped the country with his life. With the help of Anita Roddick and her socially conscious cosmetic empire, The Body Shop, the Wiwas found temporary safe haven in London. Among those who gave the refugee Wiwa family temporary shelter was British novelist Doris Lessing. After several precarious months in England, Owens was able to relocate his family to permanent safety in Canada with the aid of Greenpeace Canada and Toronto's Bloor Street United Church.
Wiwa resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with his wife, Diana Barikor Wiwa, and their three children.
Read more about this topic: Owens Wiwa
Famous quotes containing the word exile:
“The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“The bond between a man and his profession is similar to that which ties him to his country; it is just as complex, often ambivalent, and in general it is understood completely only when it is broken: by exile or emigration in the case of one’s country, by retirement in the case of a trade or profession.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)
“the bird in the poplar tree
dreaming, his head
tucked into
far-and-near exile under his wing ...”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)