Hotel Rwanda Shows Personal Service Saves Lives

When internal strife broke out in Rwanda in 1994, the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines, Paul Rusesabagina, the assistant manager, worked with an American Colonel to save the lives of over 1,200 people. His efforts and style were highlighted 10 years later in the movie Hotel Rwanda about the genocide violence between two ethnic groups in the country.

For years, the Tutsi tribe was in control of the country and members of the Hutu ethnic group were treated with disdain. When the Hutu took over control of Rwanda they used genocide violence to murder a million Tutsis in about 100 days and through it all the manager of Hotel Rwanda managed to keep up appearances, allowing the hotel and its guests, refugees of both ethnic groups, alive and safe.

The movie does not focus on the violence or the ethnic cleansing attempts of the Hutu, rather it focuses on the manager of Hotel Rwanda and how his efforts made all those who came to the hotel respect the property and formed an oasis-type area where the internal struggle was ignored.

Rusesabagina ran the hotel in the way he knew how, by doing favors for everyone and knowing how to please the rich and powerful guests. He did favors for his guests before the breakout of violence and used all of his connections during the strife to help his own cause of keeping his family, and guests, safe.

Daily Operations Continued At Hotel Rwanda

Despite the raging of death and destruction, the manager in Hotel Rwanda continues to go to work everyday, operating the hotel as he did every day. Focusing on meeting the needs of his guests, from the powerful to those seeking refuge, he provides the same class of service he had always demonstrated.

It was his dedication to keeping the hotel running smoothly and his care of his guests that made everyone from both warring tribes respect the premises and the man who ran it, turning the hotel into a safe haven for them all. His struggle to save his own family was part of the movie Hotel Rwanda, as his wife was a member of the Tutsi tribe and as such she and his children would be marked for death.

Throughout the struggle and personal grief, he managed to save over 1,200 people, refugees from both tribes, making the film Hotel Rwanda a view of his struggle and success in the shadow of the million deaths.

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