By Kaitlin Andorfer

Paul Rusesabagina, the man whose brave actions during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” was greeted by a packed theater of cheering and applauding students Tuesday.

“This is the most crowded it has ever been for a speaker in all my 20 years at Hofstra,” said Anita Ellis, director of student activities. “You, the student body, don’t know how important you are and what a difference you can make. We have to make sure this never happens again.”

As part of Genocide Awareness Week, Rusesabagina spoke about the background between the two tribes involved in the genocide, the Hutus and the Tutsis. The two tribes lived as one, sharing the same culture before colonization.

In 1955, Belgium’s involvement brought about the Hutu revolution, which led 200,000 people to leave the country.

Rusesabagina also spoke of the first time the United Nations entered the country in 1993 and how for many, it was a sign of hope. What the Rwandans did not know was that in the tragic months to come, the United Nations would “close their eyes and ears and run away,” he said.

Rusesabagina called the assassination of the president on April 6, 1994, “the end of hope and the beginning of desperation and fear.” He described the horrific deaths by machetes and crude weapons and the sound of dogs fighting over dead bodies. By the end of 1994, almost one million people were killed in the systematic genocide.

Rusesabagina said what happened in Rwanda is taking place all over the world. “You, the leaders of tomorrow, are the ones who can change the world,” he said.

The movie “Hotel Rwanda,” which came out in January, starring Don Cheadle, tells Rusesabagina’s story of his promise to protect the family he loved and ended up finding the courage to save over 1,200 people.

“Hotel Rwanda was the first time I’d heard this particular story. I thought it was a once in a lifetime experience to hear him speak,” said Mike Turchin a high school senior, and president of the chapter of Amnesty International at his school. “To see the man behind the movie really brought it to life.”

“I’ve heard the story before in the news and I thought he was amazing, inspiring and heroic,” Brittany Harris, senior video and television major, said. “I liked when he said it was our duty as young people to change the world because we really are in charge of the future.”