An Ordinary Man

The hotel loses its phone service. However, the office has a fax machine Paul uses to send out information. He stays up at night sending messages to the Belgian Foreign Ministry, the White House, and other foreign entities asking for assistance. His calls and requests are ignored.

Others are also reaching out. Thomas Kamilindi, a reporter sheltering at Hotel Mille Collines, speaks with Radio France International, explaining to their listeners what is has been like to hide in the hotel, and the violence of the genocide and civil war. Half an hour after the interview, Thomas is under a government death order. Friends in the military ask him to leave the hotel, but Paul urges him to stay, having him switch rooms in order to fool any spies who may be searching for him.

Nevertheless, an Army colonel comes to the hotel to assassinate Thomas. Paul wheedles him to refrain, in one of dozens such conversations he will have during the genocide, where he has to sit across from a man committed to killing people. He is able to save lives by making these people feel important, knowing that “even the best of us can be slaves to our self regard” (123).