Despite such destruction and chaos, one man did everything in his power to save lives.
Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu man with a Tutsi wife, was a manager of the Mille Collines Hotel. An Ordinary Man covered his acts of heroism amongst the devastation of his country. When the genocide was in its early stages, elites fled the country, leaving Rusesabagina in charge. He stated multiple times that he wanted to maintain the dignity of the hotel, and his heroism began when he housed twenty-six neighbors in his house. (Insert Quote) He started housing family, neighbors, and friends at the hotel, until eventually he was taking in a random group of orphan Hutu children. Still, he kept running the Mille Collines as the upscale, classy hotel that it was. Rusesabagina insisted he had to continue his work, and ultimately the only thing that saved those 1,268 people in his hotel was his words.
Throughout Rusesabagina’s endeavors, he had something to offer the enemy, and began to maneuver his way through bargaining with others at the point of a gun. In return for money and alcohol, his Tutsis could stay alive. After then genocide, Paul continues not to consider himself a …show more content…
Hopefully, now that the genocide is over and has been greatly publicized, everyone will be able to reflect on what was done wrong, and what they can do better for the next genocide. Tragedy is never easy to deal with, but Rwandans have been good about deciding to forgive, but not to forget the 800,000 Tutsis who were murdered. They are moving on and working towards rebuilding their society. Although Paul Rusesabagina may not view himself as a hero in this situation, he was brave enough to put his life on the line numerous times in order to save a life. His dedication, quick thinking, and bravery saved over a thousand lives and those people will forever be grateful to their Rwandan