Ra's Life

Ra's Life I finally got to see the film "Hotel Rwanda". I enjoyed it and now know a bit more about the literary license taken by the film. First, the hotel featured in the film, Hotel Des Milles Collines, is where I am staying. However the hotel SHOWN in the film is actually in South Africa and not the real one.

After visiting the genocide memorial in Kigali, the film seems tame. It is of course difficult in 100 minutes to do more than give a feel and tell a 'story'. The fact is The hotel manager, Paul, is not a national hero here and there is another film one could see to get a very good insight into the happenings of April 1994: "Ghosts of Rwanda". If you want a book, the highly recommended "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families" is what I will read when I get back to the states and get my library to order it. A Senegalese peacekeeper who saved over 1000 lives with his personal acts of courage is an inspiring hero's story.

The most shocking thing about the whole story is how the world did nothing. This story is sadly a repeat of so many times - we never learn - and we let these things happen. And so many are barely known. The Russian invasion of Hungary in the late 1950's (read Michener's "The Bridge at Andau") is another example of how a nation just 'knew' the developed world would not sit idly by let them be slaughtered - and like Rwanda, learned that the idiosyncratic views 'we' have can let these PREVENTABLE or minimizable tragedies occur.

The UN official, Canadian General Romeo Dallaire sums it up with brutal clarity: "I'm sure there would have been more reaction if someone had tried to exterminate Rwanda's 300 mountain gorillas."

"Pity in Pink?" - One can see working in the fields in Kigali - and in all the other towns I visited - men (AND women) in pink shirts and shorts. Before I inquired, I assumed they were prisoners. there is a jail right in the center of Kigali, full of Men in Pink. These are people who killed during the genocide and the outfits are their uniforms of shame. The "gacaca" (pronounced Kachacha) is the series on ongoing tribunals to deal with all of the perpetrators of atrocities during the genocide and it will continue for many years. Pink may be the "in" color this fashion season in the West, but it is a sad reminder of the story behind "Hotel Rwanda" that has affected a generation.

OK, I promise to be back to fun and the lighter side next time!