NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who saved more than 1,200 lives during the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda, will speak Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at Vanderbilt University’s Student Life Center.
The university’s Speakers Committee, a student-run organization, is sponsoring the event.
General public tickets are available through Ticketmaster at 615-255-9600 or www.ticketmaster.com. General admission tickets are $10. Tickets are free to Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff and must be picked up in advance at the Sarratt Student Center box office. Only one free ticket may be picked up per person with Vanderbilt identification card. Vanderbilt community members may be seated with up to four paying guests. For more information, call 615-322-2471 or visit www.vanderbilt.edu/vpb.
During the Rwandan genocide, more than one million people were massacred in the span of 100 days. Rusesabagina hid 1,268 Tutsis and Hutus for more than three months in the hotel he managed. He is the founder of Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF), which advocates for increased intervention by the international community in dealing with genocides and debt relief for African nations. His story, with its message of hope, peace and “never again,” is fast becoming a part of history and has been heard around the world.
Actor Don Cheadle portrayed Rusesabagina in the film Hotel Rwanda, which was nominated for three Academy Awards. In 2005, Rusesabagina was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Civil Rights Museum’s International Freedom Award. He has said his journey from hotel manager to humanitarian has been life-changing – “I’ve become a humanitarian and I never thought I would become one. And, as a humanitarian, I wanted to take this message on a wider scale, to raise awareness of what happened in my country so that the international community can help others who suffer now.”
A question and answer session will be held following Rusesabagina’s remarks.
Signed copies of his autobiography, An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography, will be on sale at the event.
In addition to the lecture, Vanderbilt Speakers Committee will host a film screening of Hotel Rwanda, on Sunday, Sept. 24, in Sarratt Cinema in the Sarratt Student Center. The screenings will be at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. General public tickets for the film are $3 and will be available at Sarratt Box Office. The movie is free for Vanderbilt community members with a Vanderbilt identification card.
Paul Rusesabagina’s lecture is sponsored in part by The Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life on Vanderbilt’s campus. Complimentary parking is available after 4:30 p.m. for both events in the garage at 25th Avenue South and Highland. The Highland Avenue entrance is recommended.
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Media contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
Princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu