Award-winning hero Paul Rusesabagina to speak at CNU

(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — The real-life hotel manager who saved more than 1,200 people during the Rwandan massacre of 1994 will speak at Christopher Newport University at 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 in the Concert Hall of the Ferguson Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

Paul Rusesabagina, who was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the film “Hotel Rwanda,” was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Civil Rights Museum’s International Freedom Award in 2005.

As thousands were massacred during civil war in Rwanda, Rusesabagina hid 1,268 people for more than three months in the hotel where he was manager. He is still involved in charitable organizations helping the survivors and has set up the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation to help the relief efforts.

The event is sponsored by CNU's Campus Activities Board. For more information, contact Kim Roeder, director of student activities, at 594-7260 or kroeder@cnu.edu.