Submitted by: Submitted by carrie7510
Views: 316
Words: 803
Pages: 4
Category: Literature
Date Submitted: 04/12/2013 08:27 PM
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Hotel Rwanda |
The Effects of Trauma on Victims |
In the movie Hotel Rwanda, the most memorable event was when Paul Rusesabagina found his fifteen year-old son, Roger hiding in the bushes of his neighbor’s backyard covered in blood.
This very tragic day on April 6, 1994 the Rwandan Genocide began against the Hutus and Tutsis. Many Tutsi neighbors had gathered at Paul’s house. They knew Paul was a Hutu, who had many public connections and influences in the community. In the midst of getting his guests settled, he realized that Roger was missing.
Roger decided to go next door to check on his best friend, Simon. He crawls through the bushes to the other side where he hears the Hutu soldiers and sees their boots and the glint of their machetes. Roger waited until he heard the soldiers walk away and heard their vehicles drive off. He then emerges from the bushes and was not prepared at all for what he was about to see. “Roger witnessed his best friend Simon, his mother and six sisters slaughtered in front of him. Simon had been hacked apart with a machete. He lay face down in the backyard in a pool of his own blood. Some of the other bodies were not yet dead and were moving around slowly.” (Rusesabagina, 2006)
Paul found Roger terrified in the bushes and covered with blood from head to toe. He immediately picks up Roger, rushes him into the house and places him on the kitchen table. Paul is frantically looking for knife wounds to determine where the blood is coming from. He finally yelled out “he’s not hurt, it’s not his blood.” Paul and Tatiana are immediately relieved that their son is safe.
Roger has been traumatized for life at witnessing the brutal killings of his best friend and his family at such a very young age. Many Rwandan children witnessed unspeakable horror that day. Many female children were victims of rape and male children were forced to participate in the violent killings of Rwanda. All...