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United Kingdom Sir Terry Waite KCMG CBE is a British humanitarian and author, globally recognized for his work as a hostage negotiator and steadfast advocacy for human rights.
Co-founder and President of Hostage International, an organization founded in 2004 to provide support to the families of hostages and former hostages.
President of Emmaus UK, a charity dedicated to supporting formerly homeless people, a role he took on shortly after his release from captivity in 1991.
Co-founder and president of Y Care International, which is YMCA's international development and relief agency.
Patron of Storybook Dads, a charity that helps imprisoned parents record bedtime stories for their children to maintain family connections.
Patron of Habitat for Humanity Great Britain, an organization dedicated to building homes for those in need.
Patron of the Romany Society, suggesting an involvement with the Romani community or related causes.
Patron of Strode Park Foundation in Kent, an organization providing care and services for children and adults with disabilities.
Sir Terence Hardy Waite was born on May 31, 1939, in Bollington, Cheshire, England. His early life saw him attend Stockton Heath County Secondary School, where he served as head boy. After a brief stint with the Grenadier Guards, an allergy led him to the Church Army, an Anglican social welfare organization. In 1963, Waite was appointed education adviser to the Bishop of Bristol, Oliver Tomkins, and was instrumental in implementing the SALT program. His work during this period involved mastering psychological T-group methods to foster greater lay involvement in the church.
In 1969, Waite, along with his wife Helen Frances Watters and their four children, moved to Uganda, where he served as Provincial Training Adviser to Erica Sabiti, the first African Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. He traveled extensively across East Africa, founded the Southern Sudan Project, and developed aid and development programs for the region, navigating the turbulent political climate of Idi Amin’s regime. Following his time in Uganda, from 1972, he worked as an international consultant for the Medical Mission Sisters in Rome, focusing on institutional change, inter-cultural relations, and development issues across various continents.
Waite returned to the UK in 1978, working with the British Council of Churches before being appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs in 1980 by Robert Runcie. In this diplomatic role, based at Lambeth Palace, he organized significant international visits, including the first-ever visit by an Archbishop of Canterbury to China. His pivotal work involved successful hostage negotiations in Iran in 1980 and Libya in 1984. However, his mission in Lebanon in 1987, aimed at securing the release of further hostages, resulted in his own capture and four years of solitary confinement, from which he was released on November 18, 1991. Since his release, he has authored several books, engaged in extensive lecturing, and continued his humanitarian efforts, co-founding charitable organizations like Hostage International and serving as president of Emmaus UK.
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