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lanuary S. 2005
HOTEL R W A N D A
4 .
Hotel Manager Stands
Tall Against Rebels
continued
from Front
wondering what to do next. Fear
hung heavily in the air. Paul, a re­
flective inan who had a normal life
up until now found him self in the
worst crises of his life.
Tatiana, P aul's attentive wife,
had a heart o f gold and wanted to
do more than just help her own
family. While her husband was deep
in thought about how to handle
th e ir frig h ten in g p red ic am e n t,
Tatiana had plans o f her own. Fi­
nally, she confronted Paul with her
troubled heart and told him they
must "help their friends and neigh­
bors.”
A decade later, his face breaks
into a big smile when he explains
what she meant by their “friends
and neighbors.” Before he could
consider her request that day, 1,200
frightened and confused locals
jam m ed the hotel. Rusesabagina
now had a top-ranked hotel full of
poor and homeless Rwandans.
Hutu extremists ran from house
to house, kicking the doors in and
gunning down or taking the m a­
chete to all who were inside. Leav­
ing family and friends outside the
hotel meant certain death. From this
moment on, this humble man would
find himself continually arguing and
negotiating with the m urdering
rebels. He bargained and pleaded
with them to spare the lives o f his
guests.
M eanwhile, those in his care
battered Paul with questions that
he could not answer. Just keeping
them fed and alive was a huge task
for him self and his staff who felt
awkward about treating local poor
people as hotel guests.
Stuck alone with thousands of
m e rc ile ss H u tu 's at his g ates
R u sesabagina's resourcefulness
saved the liv es o f his fellow
Rwandans numerous times. At one
point he instructed his friends to
start calling everyone they knew all
over the world. His plan worked.
Soon leaders around the globe were
responding. Officials from coun­
tries in m ost m ajor continents
pleaded with the rebels to stop and
for Rwandan leaders do more than
they were to curb all the violence.
W h ile th e p la n to o k w ee k s,
R usesabagina kept o tterin g the
rebels, diamond, cash, Cuban ci­
gars, whiskey, and anything else
he could scrounge up to buy more
time. He even had to empty out the
hotel safes and collected every­
thing o f value in the hotel and on
the quests. Every piece o f jewelry
or bottle of whiskey might keep
them alive for a few more hours.
The most chilling of his tales is
the day that 10 UN peacekeepers
were killed and the rest ot the sol­
diers had to leave the country, along
with anyone else who was not
Rwandan. Paul's eyes stared out
the hotel window as though he was
back in Rwanda on that horrible
day, when he spoke o f it. It was as
if he was watching thousands ot
angry H utu's with machetes smash­
ing through the glass doors ot his
hotel.
"They just packed up and left us
there, alone to die. Surely they knew
we would all be mercilessly slaugh­
tered.”
Paul w ell-rem em bers locking
eyes with the UN leader as they
were leaving. The m an’s head
turned, he closed the vehicle door,
and disappeared into the sunset.
Prior to this, Paul said they felt safe
with the UN there. "W e were con­
fident that peace would com e.”
After the UN left, the genocide
continued. During this time, aTutsi
or moderate Hutu was killed every
eight and one half seconds, 24 hours
a day for almost 100 days. Before it
was over, nearly a million people
would loose their lives.
"Bodies were everywhere. The
’ »***
AW t
* -
Don C h ea d le (right) a n d Paul R u sesa b a g in a , th e m a n h e portrays in H otel Rwanda.
smell was so bad. Rwandan women
left alive were raped in attem pts to
impregnate them with Hutu chil­
dren,” he said.
In the end, everyone in the hotel
made it out alive.
W hile he shies away from taking
credit or being honored as a hero,
there is no question Paul is a very
special person. He proved to the
world that common, ordinary people
can make a huge difference when it
counts.
Today, some o f his biggest wor­
ries are about his people, his coun­
try, and his continent. The poverty
and health problems facing not only
Rwanda, but also all of Africa weigh
heavily upon his mind.
“Ten years ago my country
adopted the phrase, ‘Never A gain,’
regarding genocide, but now it is
happing again in the Darfur region
in Sudan,” he said. "I also worry
about AIDS and the economic cri­
ses it is having on Africa. They
grow hand in hand and the world is
not doing enough about the prob­
lems. The time to act is now. If we
wait much longer a great deal of
Africa will be gone."
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Movie Shines Light on Genocide
continued
from Front
W hile rich white Europeans en­
joy all the am enities o f the Mille
Collines, a five-star hotel in Kigali.
Rwanda, the scene just blocks away
was considerably different. Extrem­
ist Hutu Rebels began killing their
own moderates and local Tutsis.
Soon all the guests and local
whites were evacuated, including
the United Nations peacekeeping
forces. Fear and uncertainty filled
the theater, as Nick N olte’s eyes
meet those of Paul for what might
be the last time. They viewer feels
the “W hy?” on the faces o f those
left behind.
The mighty UN troops under the
command o f Nick Nolte, climb in
their vehicles and simply drive away.
N olte's eyes seem to scream back, “I
am only following orders. There is
nothing more I can do here."
Against all odds Rusesaba-gina
fights for the lives o f his hotel
guests on a m oment-to-moment
basis. Emotions run hot as Paul
finds himself arguing, pleading, and
negotiating, as he struggles with
the UN and topofficials from around
the world. The Hotel Mille Collines
stands alone, like a small boat in a
sea o f bodies. The film does a su­
perb job of tugging on the hearts
and em otions of the viewers.
P au l's w ife T atiana (Sophie
O k o n ed o ), a fiery p a ssio n a te
woman, will not let her husband's
allegiance to his European em ploy­
ers cause him to forget his friends
and neighbors. As soon as the hotel
is emptied out, Tatiana bri ngs i n the
fragile Rwandans who are afraid to
return to their homes. Paul com ­
p la in s but soon ta k es on his
newfound duty of caring for local
citizens who arc now his guests.
The problems pile on, keeping the
viewer on the edge of their seat.
The United Artists fdm, opening
nationwide on Thursday, isdirected
by Terry George who cuts a tine line
between both the excitement and
reality.
Hotel Rwanda takes us inside
the lives o f the real people who
lived through this horrible act of
genocide, as well as the almost mil­
lion people who lost their lives.
Fear grips the audience as minute
by minute as the smell of death gets
closer and closer to the hotel.
However, in a rare and welcome
treat, moviegoers are spared the
actual blood. George demonstrates
how to create brutality without
showing it to the point ot turning
away viewers.
Getting to see true stories of real
life characters developing through
the toughest o f circumstances are
extremely rare. Deservedly, the Film
has already won two prestigious
a w a rd s: th e A m eric an F ilm
I n s titu te ’s A u d ie n c e an d the
P eo p le’s C hoice A w ard at the
Toronto Film Festival.
Portland State University
r'ri
.
’
Oregon Public Broadcasting
p rese n t
National Public Radio s
Juan Williams
A M E R IC A N EXPERIENCE
Personal recollections and eyewitness accounts
illuminate the last five years in Martin Luther King, Jr ,'s
life, including his efforts to embrace causes beyond the
Wednesday, January 12.
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Student Union
1825 SW Broadway
Tickets: PSU Box Office,
503-725-3307, or online at
www.ticketmaster.com
$20 / $5 w ith student ID.
th e L ife and
Legacy o f
r. M a rtin
u th e r K in g , Jr.
civil rights movement.
Monday at 9pm
P re s e n tin g sponsors:
Oregon Public Broadcasting
PSU Dining Services
PSU Student Organizations
PSU Alumni Association
l
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Channel 10
OPB TV
opb.org