‘HOTEL RWANDA’ HERO: WORLD’S ‘BEEN CRYING,’ BUT NO ONE’S LISTENING
By Rob Seman
Daily Record, NJ
Oct 4 2006
Man who saved more than 1,200 speaks in Hanover
HANOVER — There are a few questions that Paul Rusesabagina expected
to be asked of him.
The most common is whether he was ever scared — not an unreasonable
query for the former hotel manager who saved more than 1,200 refugees
from the genocide carried out by militias during 100 days in 1994
in Rwanda.
He may not have as much Hollywood clout as Don Cheadle, the actor
who portrayed him in the movie "Hotel Rwanda," but hundreds of Morris
County residents sat in rapt attention Tuesday as he answered their
questions at the Birchwood Manor during the first installment of this
year’s Town Hall of Morris lecture series.
He began by saying he was scared plenty of times.
"But the most scary time in my life was when I woke up and everything
around me was upside down," Rusesabagina said. "When my neighbors
were wearing military uniforms and carrying guns."
"How hard was it to keep your composure?" asked one audience member.
Keeping the refugees alive and fed with nothing more than dry beans
and corn made it easy, Rusesabagina said.
"When you are in circumstances where you are busy 24 hours a day,
there is no time to think of any other thing," Rusesabagina said.
"I never had time to think about other things, to think about myself,"
he said.
Rusesabagina said that he eventually found that the only way to deal
with the chaos around him was to face it. He did so when soldiers
came to the door of the hotel and instead of barring it, he opened it.
"Sometimes when we face such characters, the best way to deal with
them is to open a window of dialogue," Rusesabagina said.
He relearned that lesson when another soldier pointed a gun to his
head, then told him he would be spared, but also offered him a gun to
partake in the fighting. Rusesabagina refused, and tried to reason
with the man. After two hours, he and his family were released and
allowed to return to the hotel.
"I was scared, but I learned one of the most important lessons of my
life," Rusesabagina said. "How to deal with people.
‘Power of words’
"In my life, I believe in one thing — the power of words,"Rusesabagina
said. "Words are the best weapons a human being can have in an arsenal,
and can also be the worst, depending on what you want to achieve."
Rusesabagina was the first speaker in the lecture series that will
include authors Teresa Riordan, Judy Collins, Donna Woolfork Cross
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s grandson, David B. Roosevelt.
Rusesabagina sheltered 1,268 refugees in the Hotel Des Mille Collines
in Rwanda during the 100 days of genocide in 1994, when Hutu militias
slaughtered up to 800,000 of the roughly 7 million people who lived
in the nation at the time. Most of the victims were Tutsis and
moderate Hutus.
Rusesabagina, who will speak to students at Morristown High School
today, said that he had initially turned down book and television deals
before allowing his story to be depicted by "Hotel Rwanda,"director
Terry George and actor Don Cheadle.
Reaching youth
Though he is now promoting his autobiography, "An Ordinary Man,"
the movie, he said, seemed to be a better way to get through to
young people.
"They are the ones who can shift the world," Rusesabagina said.
The crowd that came to hear Rusesabagina numbered about 600 people,
most of whom were retirement-age, and were treated to a lunch of
chicken breast in rosemary cream sauce, as well as salad, side dishes
and dessert.
However, some local student groups also attended the lecture.
Rusesabagina’s words left a great impression on Montville High
School senior Stephanie Schey, a member of the school’s International
Concerns Club.
Schey had watched "Hotel Rwanda," when it was in theaters and looked
forward to meeting the man behind the true story.
"I wanted to hear his story because I’m sure the movie taints it,"
Schey said.
Schey said that she has taken up the cause of raising awareness about
humanitarian atrocities in Africa, such as Darfur and Rwanda.
"I think this whole pattern of genocide keeps happening,"Schey said.
"And we keep saying, ‘never again.’"
Those are the two most abused words, Rusesabagina said in his lecture,
referring to promises by the international community after acts of
genocide to no longer tolerate such atrocities.
Pattern of ignorance
Rusesabagina said that he believes the same pattern of international
ignorance to genocide is happening again with the Darfur region of
Sudan, where government-sponsored militias known as the janjaweed have
destroyed villages and killed members of various tribes since 2003.
"My friends, the world outside has been crying, and we have been
pretending to not be listening," Rusesabagina said.
Jody Rosenberg, who teaches a class about genocide and holocausts at
Montville High School, plans to have her students at least study the
Rwandan genocide as well as other similar events, such as the Jewish
Holocaust of World War II, Darfur and the Armenian Holocaust.
"I think so many high school students are closed in their own world,"
Rosenberg said. "The best thing we can do is expose them to it."
Rosenberg said she plans to show "Hotel Rwanda" in class. Tina
Chirnomas and her husband, Rabbi Gerald Chirnomas, of Boonton, said
they would be renting the movie, after Rusesabagina’s lecture.
"I think it was very interesting," Mrs. Chirnomas said.
Bernice Elliott, of Rockaway Township, and Marge Kleiner, of Denville,
said they frequently attend the lecture series, and even if they
don’t like the speaker, they say they usually leave with food for
thought. Tuesday was no different, and this time, Rusesabagina’s
speech left new questions.
"What can we do in Darfur?"Kleiner asked.