Paul Rusesabagina, the courageous hotel manager whose story of survival during the Rwandan genocide became the film "Hotel Rwanda," will speak at a Brigham Young University forum assembly on Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 11:05 a.m. at the Marriott Center.
The forum will be presented live on KBYU TV and KBYU FM. It will not be available on other BYU Broadcasting services, including the internet.
Rusesabagina worked as assistant general manager of the Mille Collines Hotel from October 1984 until November 1992. He was then promoted to general manager of the Diplomate Hotel, also in Kigali, before the 100-day genocide caused him to move back to the Mille Collines Hotel.
After the genocide ended, Rusesabagina went back to manage the Diplomate Hotel until September 1996. He then went to Belgium as a refugee where he worked as a businessman and now owns a transport company.
It was in 1979 while working at the Hotel Akagera in Rwanda that Rusesabagina learned about the tourism, hotel and catering industry. He then began a study of hotel management in Nairobi, Kenya at the Kenya Utalii College in 1980, and completed his studies in Switzerland in September 1984.
Rusesabagina has founded the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, which provides support, care and assistance to children orphaned and women abused during the genocide in Rwanda.
He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award and the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award.
Writer: David Luker
