2025 Rwanda Delegation— Cameron Vitagliano
English Literature and Creative Writing ‘27
The first time I heard about Rwanda was in my 10th grade History Class, when my teacher showed us the film Hotel Rwanda in a unit about genocides. The film stuck out to me not because of the depictions of genocide, but because of what came before that. Unlike other media representations of Africa I had seen at that point, Rwanda was shown as a modern country. Paul Rusesabagina had a suburban house, kids who played hoola-hoop in the front yard, hosted dinner parties with his brother-in-law and his family, and a job at a nice hotel that he commuted to every day. The display of modernity, the familiarity of the setting despite it being in Africa made the events depicted in the film feel much closer than any other genocide related films. I ended up reading the book, An Ordinary Man by Rusesabagina years later, at around the time the controversy with the author was heating up. The first half of the book described his experiences growing up in Rwanda, gave general information about the culture, and made me think that I would very much like to see Rwanda for myself one day. At Buff State's orientation, I took a picture of the AFP slide that told me how I could.
Hearing more stories, learning more about the culture, puts into sharp relief that my understanding of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and Rwanda itself, is all coming from the lens of one person. I would like to expand that lens, see Rwanda for myself and come back with a more complete understanding of the culture and the story, which I see has many, many parallels with the political environment of today. I want to keep a mostly written blog, as detailed as I can manage with the schedule. This is my first time leaving North America. I'm very much looking forward to it.