As the country of Rwanda descended into madness, one man made a promise to protect the family he loved – and ended up finding the courage to save more than 1,200 people. Over the course of 100 days, almost one million people were killed in Rwanda. The Film “Hotel Rwanda,” nominated for three Academy Awards in 2004, tells the inspiring story of real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, who is portrayed in the film by Don Cheadle, a hotel manager in Rwanda who used his courage to shelter over a thousand refugees from certain death.
Rusesabagina visits Lamar as part of the Academic Lecture Series funded by students of the university to bring noted lecturers and experts to the campus. He will present a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. in the Montagne Center on March 26, 2007. His visit is hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and is paid by student services fees. Rusesabagina will meet with Lamar University students in a question and answer session at 6:30 p.m. in the Cardinal Hall of Honor in the Montagne Center.
His autobiography, “An Ordinary Man,” was published in 2006 on the 12th anniversary of the genocide. A moving story, it delves into Rusesabagina’s personal journey while explaining the history behind Rwanda’s Hutu and Tutsi tribes within the historical context of the conflict.
His story fast becoming a part of history, Rusesabagina has traveled the world with his message of hope, peace, and “never again.”
He has founded the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation that provides support, care and assistance to children orphaned by, and women abused during, the genocide in Rwanda. With as many as 500,000 orphans, Rwanda has one of the highest per-capita orphan populations in the world.
With a staggering 70 percent of Rwandan women suffering from HIV or AIDS, the foundation aims to provide emotional and physical help for women who survived systematic abuse during the genocide. Displaced from their homes, the majority of these women live in desperate poverty.
Lauded by many, Rusesabagina is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award, and the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award. Rusesabagina, whose journey from hotel manager to humanitarian has been life-changing has said, “There are stories to be told that must not be forgotten. We can never give up on the lessons learned from Rwanda.”
Rusesabagina was born in 1954, in south-central Rwanda into a farming family. In 1962, he entered the Seventh Day Adventist College of Gitwe, a missionary school, attending 13 years. In 1975, he entered the Faculty of Theology in Cameroon, graduating in 1978. In January 1979, he was employed by SABENA as a front office manager in their newly opened Hotel Akagera in the Akagera National Park. There, he learned about the tourism, hotel and catering industry. Through the Suisse Tourist Consult, Rusesabagina's application was accepted for entrance into the Kenya Utalii College in Nairobi in the hotel management course, which he started in early 1980 and finished in September 1984 in Switzerland.
Back from Switzerland, Rusesabagina joined Sabena Hotels again as assistant general manager in the Mille Collines Hotel from October 1984 until November 1993, at which time he was promoted to general manager of the Diplomate Hotel (also in Kigali).
The Rwandan Genocide started on April 6, 1994, as the Hutu-led Interahamwe militia began to slaughter the Tutsi population. For the 100 days of the genocide, Rusesabagina had to move back to the Mille Collines Hotel. His colleague Bik, manager of that unit, left Kigali on April 11, 1994, despite the number of refugees still left on their own. The next morning, the interim government left Kigali for Gitarama.
Though Rusesabagina was of mixed heritage—his father was Hutu and his mother Tutsi—he was relatively safe from the Interahamwe because of his prior work as a diplomat and business connections with important Hutu military leaders. His wife, Tatiana, was a Tutsi, however, and their children were considered mixed.
Despite some difficulty in getting the staff to accept his authority, he was able to use his position to shelter orphans and other refugees who came to the hotel. His neighbors had moved into his house for safety, though Rusesabagina didn't even own a gun. For protection against bombs and grenades they put mattresses against the windows, drank water from the hotel swimming pool and, when murderous Hutu militia threatened to enter the Mille Collines, Rusesabagina made sure his wife and children could flee in a truck past the militia road blocks.
The plan was for the truck to drive to the Kigali airport so they could flee to another country. He remained in the hotel because he feared the remaining refugees would be killed. The plan failed when the truck was forced to return to the hotel, unable to reach the airport. Everybody in the truck, including Tatiana and the children, had been severely beaten.
Rusesabagina was there for almost the entire span of the genocide. Tatiana's father, mother, brother and sister-in-law, and six nieces and nephews died in the genocide.
When the massacre slightly calmed down, in July 1994, Bik came back and joined his unit, and Rusesabagina went back to the Diplomate Hotel, where he stayed until September 1996, after which he went to Belgium as a refugee. From that time, Rusesabagina has worked as a businessman and today owns a trucking company.
Previous speakers in the Lamar University Academic Lecture series are Robert Godke, cloning expert; Lester Thurow, business futurist; Chuck Mangione, musician; E. L. Doctorow, novelist; Jack Horner, paleontologist; Sally Ride, astronaut; Christy Haubegger, publisher; Tony Snow, journalist; Molly Ivins, columnist; Gen. Barry McCaffrey, security analyst; Marlee Matlin, Oscar-winning actress; Stephen Dubner, author; Laurie Garrett, global health expert; and Dan Pink, author.
For more information about the lecture, call (409) 880-8203.
