Falls Church, Virginia — Paul Rusesabagina, the courageous hotel manager portrayed by Don Cheadle in the film "Hotel Rwanda," has received many honors and addressed numerous gatherings since he emerged as a hero from the genocide in his country just over a decade ago.
Earlier this month, while in Washington to participate in World Refugee Day, Rusesabagina did something he hasn't done previously when he visited an elementary school in Falls Church, Virginia.
Saying that Rusesabagina had saved more than 1,200 lives by his actions during the 1994, Sleepy Hollow Principal Craig Rowland told his young students: "Doing the right thing is not always easy."
Neither, apparently, was explaining the significance and devastating scale of what happened to so young an audience. Rusesabagina seemed to search for words to explain the horror, cruelty, and indifference that characterized the killings that took place in his country in 1994.
"In Rwanda, there were good people and there were bad people," he began gently. "The good people were the victims; the bad people wanted to kill the good people." It was an understated simplification that resonated with at least one boy, who raised his hand to ask, "Which team won?"
In the month before Rusesabagina's visit, the students studied heroes in American history, including Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Due to the disturbing nature of what occurred in Rwanda, neither kindergarteners nor first-graders (five and six-year-olds) were included in Rusesabagina's audience.
The children in attendance focused their questions on concrete specifics and personal details, asking him when and where he was born, the size of his hotel, and whether he had been scared.
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"I didn't have time to be scared," Rusesabagina said. "I didn't know what I was doing was different."
He said luck also played role. "The people staying in my hotel were very well known and identified," he said, explaining that this may be why the hotel was one of the few places where no one was harmed.
Rusesabagina shrugged off the 'hero' label. "I'm a father; I'm a husband; I'm someone who loves people, and I did what I thought was right," he said. "I followed just my conscience."
Rusesabagina's visit to the U.S. school came about as a favor to government relations consultant Riva Levinson. They met as participants on a congressional delegation to Darfur led by Rep. Ed Royce (R-California). When Rusesabagina asked what he might do to thank her for arranging the trip, Levinson asked that Rusesabagina visit her childrens' school when he next came to Washington. To her great surprise, she said, he agreed.
Asked what he hoped American children would take from his story, he said: "My message is to raise awareness, starting from America, on international issues, on genocide, about violence, African dictatorships, everything."
And he pointed to the situation in Darfur, Sudan as an indicator that more has to be done if another tragedy like Rwanda is to be avoided. "History keeps on repeating itself," he told the students, "but it does not teach us a lesson."
Following his speech, students presented Rusesabagina with a plaque declaring him an honorary Sleepy Hollow Elementary alumnus, and they sang "Let There be Peace on Earth" as he waved goodbye and departed the gymnasium.
