The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King
The mortar attack on Rwandan President Habyarimana’s plane in April 1994 signified the beginning of the end for near one-million Rwandans. Messages of hate were broadcast over the radio urging Hutus to exterminate the Tutsi cockroaches. Over the course of 100 days fifteen percent of Rwanda’s population were slaughtered.
I sat across from Paul Rusesabagina, a soft-spoken, refined African, whose courageous actions saved more than 1,200 refugees as documented in the Academy Award-nominated film Hotel Rwanda.
“The message I bring to you is not about Rwanda’s history. I do not wish to dwell on the subject of the systematic exterminating of an entire ethnic group or the United Nations apology for doing nothing to stop it.” He paused for reflection. “It seems that the world has learnt nothing from this as it is happening again. The past is recurring whilst western-world leaders look on at action in Darfur.”
NEVER AGAIN
"History keeps repeating itself, and fails to teach mankind. We never learn from the past," Rusesabagina continued. “The time for the world to repent their failure to help Rwanda has elapsed.” His voice was heavy with despair.
"Politicians keep saying, never again, never again – these are the most abused words in the world.”
“When the genocide was happening in Rwanda, the Jewish Holocaust Museum was being inaugurated in Washington, D.C., and all the speakers said never again.” His sad eyes spoke of the unspeakable horrors he had witnessed.
Immediately following the release of Hotel Rwanda, Rusesabagina established the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation whose aim are to provide financial assistance to children and women affected by the genocides in Rwanda, and other African nations.
THE PRICE OF WAR
Educating the world in the lessons of Rwanda and privately donating aid to organisations helping the victims initially began as Rusesabagina’s personal mission and soon became an international movement to put an end to all instances of genocide.
“I’ve become a humanitarian by default, and as such I need to take the Rwanda message out there on a wider scale and raise awareness of what happened in my home country so that the international community can help others who suffer now.”
“Healing the consequential scars of the 1994 genocide has been a tremendously difficult mission. Death and destruction occurred on such a swift and considerable scale that only a small number of Rwandan families were not personally touched. Whole generations of women were raped, and tens of thousands of children born from these violent encounters.”
SEVENTY PERCENT OF RAPE SURVIVORS ARE HIV+
A frightening number of women died during the genocide in which mutilation and rape was used as a weapon of war – a weapon as brutal as the machete which did not always guarantee immediate death. Rwanda may stand as the ultimate example of ‘genocidal rape,’ owing to the fact that more than 70 percent of the Tutsi women who were gang-raped have subsequently tested positive for the HIV virus.
Rusesabagina’s Foundation provides emotional and material help for these victims, who have been displaced from their homes. They largely live in hopeless poverty and as ‘survivors of rape’ are rejected by society. Tossed aside and deprived of even rudimentary survival tools, these women are forced to solicit themselves, further expanding the deadly cycle of HIV and AIDS.
ONE IN FIVE RWANDAN CHILDREN ARE ORPHANED
“More than half a million orphans, one of the highest per-capita orphan populations in the world, are now mature enough to fully appreciate hatred and violence. Some of the older children vividly recall the atrocities they were forced to commit. Vital work is needed to help nurse the lesions that are still very real to them. The impact of this tragedy simply cannot be overstated.” Rusesabagina averted his gaze and struggled to bring his emotions under control. He continued with a tremor in his voice.
“They are born to women raped during the genocide, have grown up without fathers and will soon lose their mothers to AIDS.”
The Rwandan AIDS crisis has taken a heavy toll on children, with some as young as nine serving as heads of their households, rearing their brothers and sisters without the guidance of a guardian or parent.
“They live on the outskirts of society and lack access to basic food, clothing, or even shelter,” stated Rusesabagina. “And to survive more than thirty percent aged between five and fourteen are forced into child labour. As such they soon fall victim to those seeking to take advantage of their circumstances to disseminate further racial conflict and unrest.”
“I fear it is only a matter of time before the cycle of ethnic hatred and violence will rise up again,” a distressed Rusesabagina sighed, shaking his head in dismay.
TO GIVE HELP IS TO GIVE HOPE
“Hope for Rwanda’s future lies in its greatest natural resource – its children. It is imperative to address their needs if there is to be any hope for Rwanda’s future. Healing these individual traumas is a painstaking process of physical and physiological healthcare, proper education, and a healthy diet - but this is only the beginning. If we cannot meet these basic needs, they will never be able to deal with the burden of the past.
“The Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation helps orphanages and schools in highly devastated areas with educational grants - but we can only do so much.” He held up his thumb and forefinger demonstrating a small space between them. “They need the reassuring touch of human contact and unconditional love.”
“It is crucial that the shameful message of Hotel Rwanda resound around the world that is to never turn its back on mass murder again.”
I considered Rusesabagina for a while; a businessman and humanitarian who travels the world speaking of the plight of African genocide and its survivors, reliving his nightmare daily. I wondered where he went when he was alone with his thoughts. I could only speculate after his nightmares.
Rusesabagina waves off any tags of heroism saying that Africa’s true hero was Nelson Mandela, a model for all Africans. “He is Africa’s rock. I’m not worthy to stand in his shadow.”
“I recall how in one voice, the world rallied against apartheid, and how through dialogue Mr Mandela avenged his nations persecutors through forgiveness. I will always believe in the power of the spoken and written word, and the awareness this creates.”
BRING OUR LEADERS BACK TO THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES
As Rusesabagina says, it is time that we bring our leaders back to their duties and responsibilities and demand a worldwide human rights court from the United Nations, with its own powers of arrest, giving no safe havens for former dictators.
“We have little hope of preventing genocide, or reassuring those who live in fear of its recurrence, if people who have committed this most heinous of crimes are left at large, and not held to account.”
“Rwanda's tragedy was the world's tragedy and now we must rebuild our nation.”
-Ends-
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SIDEBAR
Rusesabagina was born to a humble farming family in southern Rwanda in 1954. In 1962 he entered a Missionary School where he received his education for 13 years. He attended the Faculty of Theology in Cameroon for three years and, in January 1979, was employed by Sabena as a front office manager of their newly opened Hotel Akagera in the Akagera National Park. He attended hotel management school in Nairobi and completed his studies in Switzerland in 1984. On his return, Rusesabagina became the assistant general manager in the Mille Collines Hotel (aka Hotel Rwanda) from October 1984 until November 1992, at which time he was promoted to general manager of the Diplomate Hotel (also in Kigali).
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.
The Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation www.hrrf.com
