Paul Rusesabagina - Birth and Career

Birth and Career

Rusesabagina was born on July 15, 1954 to his Hutu father and Tutsi mother in Murama, Rwanda. He had eight other siblings and was neither the oldest nor the youngest. It was common to have mixed families despite conflicts between Hutu and Tutsi; but like other families, Paul and his family did not care about their supposed differences.

As a cultural tradition he did not have the same surname as his father; his father gave him the surname Rusesabagina, which means ‘warrior that disperses the enemies’ in his native language, Kinyarwanda. At the age of thirteen during baptism on September 13, 1967, he was able to choose a new first name for himself, another aspect of traditional Rwandan culture. He chose the name ‘Paul,’ which was named after the “communicator of the New Testament.”

His parents sent him to school in a town near Gitwe; a school that was run by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. By the age of eight he could read and speak French, and by thirteen he could read and speak English. Paul acquired the nature of protecting others as a child when his family gave shelter to refugees during the late 1950s and early 1960s when problems were developing between the Hutu and Tutsi. By the end of his teenage years, Rusesabagina wanted to pursue his interest in the church attending seminary to become a minister. He also became interested in the daughter of the African pastor of Seventh-day Adventist Church, Reverend Sembeba. Her name was Esther, and on September 8, 1967 they married and he began attending the Faculty of Theology in the nation of Cameroon to become a minister. This dream was short-lived, for he always wanted to live in the large city of Kigali, and he was worried he would be stuck as a priest in a small village without the ability to preach in the prestigious ministry positions in Kigali. So in December 1978, he, his wife, and two children moved to Kigali.

When in Kigali, a childhood friend of the name Isaac Mulihano told Rusesabagina to work with him at the Milles Collines where they happened to have an opening. It was then that Rusesabagina found his true calling, using his languages skills and hard work becoming a general manager, and was admitted to the hospitality program in Nairobi. There he learned the differences in fine food and wine. He later was sent to Switzerland and Brussels where he learned more about cuisine, bookkeeping, courtesy, payroll management, how to plan institutional goals, and how to hire and fire workers. However, his constant work kept him and his wife Esther detached. They separated in 1981 and was allowed to have complete custody of their three children: Diane, Lys, and Roger.

In 1987, he was invited to a wedding and found himself staring at the maid of honor whose name was Tatiana, who was working as a nurse in Ruhengeri. She was a Tutsi but Paul did not care and wanted to help her escape the prejudices from her workplace. He obtained a favor from a frequent customer of the Milles Collines, who was a Minister of Health and was able to get Tatiana a transfer to Central Hospital in Kigali. Tatiana and Paul married two years later and she adopted his children. Later, they had their own child named Tresor.

In 1992 he was promoted to assistant general manager of the sister hotel of Milles Collines named Diplomates Hotel; these hotels were owned by the Swiss-Belgian Sabena conglomerate. At these hotels he networked with important capital guests. Instead of staying in his office during the day, he would go and talk with officials and get to know them, making beneficial contacts.