Model of faith: Paul Rusesabagina

Paul's Role in the Genocide and how he is a true man of faith

Because Paul was a Hutu he could have easily have gone to the side of the Hutus and deserted the Tutsi people, but he couldn't do somethin like that especially when his wife and his children are Tutsi's. To stand by his family meant that there was no way he could leave the war zone without outside help. When the genocide broke out in Kigali and the Hutus began to mass murder the Tutsi's, Paul had to leave the hotel and the job that he had worked so hard for over the years. He had to leave everything for the safety of his wife and children. He fled the Diplomate Hotel for the Mille Collines located in Rwanda. When he came to the Mille Collines he met hotel managers who would let him help in running the hotel for anyone who came to it for refuge. Then when the violence started getting worse all the managers fled and left Paul and his family on their own at the hotel. When more and more Tutsi refugees began to show up at the hotel, Paul phoned the Sabena company president, who gave him permission to take of the position as the acting general manager of the hotel. He took advantage of his postion by allowing over 1,000 Tutsi refugees into the hotel even though the rest of the staff did not support his decisions or respect him for what he was doing. He kept everyone well fed and comfortable in the hotel, and helped those who were injured or sick. His plan proved successful when almost none of the refugees who stayed in the hotel was killed and almost all of them left the country without trouble.

Paul Rusesabagina is a distinct example of a man of faith. It took great courage for him to stand up against his own people to aid those who really needed help. He referred to the Tutsis as the "good people" even though he was a Hutu himself. Standing against your own people to justify what is right and wrong required great faith, because he has enough faith to refer to the Tutsis as the good people, because he believes he can tell the right from wrong in this situation. He could have been put to death or murdered, because of his actions. It was his strong faith that got him through this tragedy, because he knew that in the end he would be saving many people from a horrible death. If Paul would have had no faith in his cause and that it would work then he could have easily just left the country unharmed, abandoning all of the Tutsi people. Even when the times began to get very tough at the hotel, Paul persisted to give up and stuck to his faith. The hotel ran out of water at one point, so Paul let all of the people take the water from the pool in buckets and share it with one another. He became very scared that the Hutus would find out about his hotel of Tutsi refugees and he knew that the punishment would have been the worst possbible, but he stuck to his faith and was able to pull through. Paul pulled through the situation because of his faith and his belief of what is right. Even though he was against the odds by a large amount, he believed that it would all be okay in the end. Through his strong faith and belief, he was able to save over 1,000 Tutsi refugees in the process. He is mostly remembered as a hero in the Tutsi society, but it was his faith that allowed him to become a hero.

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