World inspiration
Rusesabagina speaks on true events behind "Hotel Rwanda"
Trevor Kupfer
Issue date: 11/3/05 Section: Campus News
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The delayed media coverage and a hotel manager's inspiring journey to saving the lives of over 1,200 Rwandans' lives inspired last year's Oscar-nominated "Hotel Rwanda."
| "Tonight, I'm telling you that Africa ... needs you." -Paul Rusesabagina Inspiration for the film "Hotel Rwanda" |
On Wednesday, the unlikely hero Paul Rusesabagina addressed a sold-out crowd at Zorn Arena saying that genocide like this still occurs today and we can all make a difference.
"Tonight, I'm telling you that Africa ... needs you," Rusesabagina said. "You fought against Apartheid and you have won - today, you can win again."
In 1918, the Belgian government colonized Rwanda and created a division of Tutsi and Hutu tribes based on physical attributes.
In 1993, a peace agreement between the two cultures shattered after the Tutsi army assassinated the Hutu president, which led to a war.
When the Belgian government heard about the war breaking out in spring of 1994, they backed out of Rwanda.
"The whole international community - all the generals - were abandoning us. … The world just ran away," he said.
Left with no government or law officials, Rusesabagina's family and 26 neighbors took refuge for over two months in Milles Collines, the hotel where he was employed as a manager. Weeks after the war broke out - without electricity, water or a phone - the single fax line left in the hotel became their lifeline, Rusesabagina said. Soon, 1,000 people were staying at the hotel, hoping to eat a meal a day. The only way Rusesabagina could keep them alive was to rely on people - often killers.
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