Hotel Rwanda hero visits Pitt

Slides of killing fields, starvation and human destruction illuminated a silently stunned but… Slides of killing fields, starvation and human destruction illuminated a silently stunned but packed auditorium in the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Wednesday night. There was a constant hum of African drums as words flashed across a giant screen.

“After the Holocaust, the world vowed ‘never again.'”

Quotes from diplomats and world leaders promising an end to genocide crossed the screen, interspersed with pictures and statistics of 20th century genocide from numerous war-torn regions, such as Turkey, Rwanda and Iraq.

A single question accompanied the photo presentation.

“Why is this still happening?”

The question was a precursor to the night’s lecture by Paul Rusesabagina, the Rwandan hotel manager whose heroism during the Rwandan civil war of the ’90s inspired the motion picture “Hotel Rwanda.”

The night’s goal was one of awareness and unity, two themes stressed throughout the course of the evening. Hillel Jewish University Center, the Black Action Society, the African Students Organization and the Ford Institute for International Research co-organized and sponsored the lecture.

“As a Jewish person, my people have experienced genocide,” Hillel JUC President Elan Strait said. “Our purpose in bringing Mr. Rusesabagina to Pitt was to expose people to this ongoing problem and act on it instead of just saying ‘never again.'”

Rusesabagina was general manager of the Diplomate Hotel, a luxury hotel in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali, when a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and neighboring Burundi was gunned down.

The assassinations aggravated an already inflamed and contentious relationship between Rwanda’s two major ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis, causing a campaign of genocide that lasted for years.

A legacy of colonialization where whites favored the Tutsis and demeaned the Hutus pitted the two groups against each other until the Hutus retaliated against the Tutsis.

“Before colonialization, we shared everything,” Rusesabagina said. “We shared the same language, same culture, same land. We married each other. When the Belgians colonized us, they separated us and told the Tutsis they were better than the Hutus, so we would fight amongst ourselves and weaken our strength. This is divide and conquer politics.”

Rusesabagina is a Hutu, his wife a Tutsi.

Rusesabagina’s family – which stayed in Kilgali for most of the conflict – lived in the Mille Collines Hotel, where he once worked before being promoted to the Diplomate.

Rusesabagina protected 1,268 Rwandans, Hutus and Tutsis from certain death at the hands of militia through constant negotiation and bribery. No one in the hotel died during the entire conflict.

Rusesabagina and his family eventually left Rwanda for Belgium, where he now lives and has dedicated his life to traveling and speaking. He is also involved in efforts to stop the current crisis in Darfur, Sudan. He compares the fighting in Darfur to what happened in Rwanda.

For Pitt student Lili Leisk, Rusesabagina’s message left a deep impression.

“Hearing his story makes you wonder why young people like us can’t do what he did and help people,” Leisk said. “We have everything in the world going for us.”