An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina Read Free Book Online Page A

usually equal to the yearly income of an average person in that country. I am not
     saying this is right. But this is the reality of modern Africa. And so in every impoverished nation on the continent, from
     Burkina Faso to the Central African Republic, you can inevitably find that one hotel a short walk away from the embassies
     where fresh laundry and gin and tonics are taken for granted and where there is an aura around the place that prevents any
     peasant from ever thinking of going inside.
    In Rwanda, that place is the Hotel Mille Collines.
    It is a modernist building of five stories, with a facade of stucco and smoked glass. From the outside it would look perfectly
     at home near any large American airport.
    The Mille Collines was built in 1973 by the Sabena Corporation, which was the national airline of Belgium until it went bankrupt
     a few years ago. It was founded as the Société Anonyme Belge d’Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne, a mouthful of a brand name later shortened to the acronym Sabena. It started off flying short cargo runs between Boma and
     Léopoldville and branched into passenger service. The executives foresaw the demand for an island of stateless luxury in the
     dirt streets of Kigali, and so they built the Hotel Mille Collines, aimed primarily at the diplomatic and humanitarian trade
     but with an eye toward snaring the occasional adventurous tourist on his way to see the gorillas in the north.
    There is only one way in or out of the Hotel Mille Collines: a two-lane driveway leading to and from the gate inside and the
     paved street outside. You could walk, it is true, but almost anyone who stays there would be driven in. The gate leads into
     a parking lot landscaped with colorful African plants and shrubs and surrounded from the outside world with a fence of bamboo
     poles. A line of flagpoles flies the national banners of Rwanda and Belgium and the corporate flag of the airline. There is
     a turnabout for cars to deposit their passengers at the lobby. You can feel the crisp blast of the air conditioner a few feet
     in front of the door. The lobby is tiled with sand-colored flagstones and decorated with potted plants and wicker couches.
     The staff behind the reception desk has been trained to greet all visitors cordially in French and English. There are a few
     shops that sell all the things a tourist might want: suntan lotion, aspirin, a carved figurine or a colorful African-print
     shirt as a gift. The indirect pinkish light filtering in through the big windows to the north and the tasteful fruit colors
     in the lobby give the place a tropical feeling. I have been told the entrance of the Mille Collines resembles that of beach
     vacation resorts in Fiji or Mexico. Off to one side is a small suite of offices for the general manager, the assistant general
     manager, and an agent of the airline.
    Upstairs are 112 guest rooms, each one furnished according to the standards of upscale Western lodging. There are televisions
     with hundreds of satellite channels in multiple languages, beds with firm mattresses, shaving kits wrapped in protective plastic,
     circular cakes of soap. There are bedside phones guaranteed to give you a dial tone, a shower with safe water, a small strongbox
     with an electronic combination for your passport and money. The rooms smell like lavender cleaning solution. Those facing
     the pool are more expensive and have balconies shaped like half diamonds, where you can step out for a view of Kigali. Those
     facing the parking lot have false balconies so the sides don’t look flat when viewed from the outside.
    On the top floor is a small cocktail bar and also a set of conference rooms for visiting corporations or aid groups to hold
     their presentations. There used to be an unwritten rule in the elite circles that if your meeting wasn’t held at the Mille
     Collines it wouldn’t be taken seriously.
    Down the hall from the bar and the conference rooms is the Panorama