Life-sustaining pool

During previous trips to Kigali, I'd had drinks at the Hotel des Mille Collines and even dipped my feet into its pool. But until Monday I had never stayed there as a guest. When I arrived in Kigali Monday morning I partly spontaneously asked the taxi driver to deliver me to the Mille Collines. To keep my options open, I had made no hotel reservations. Upon arriving at the airport, the Mille Collines just seemed the right choice.
Remember the movie "Hotel Rwanda"? The Mille Collines is the Hotel Rwanda. More than 1,200 people sheltered there for about 3 months in 1994 to wait out the devastation occurring immediately outside the gates and all over the country. Early on in this horrific time, the water and power for the hotel were shut off in attempt to force the people out. The refugees, knowing they'd be killed if they stepped out into the street, stayed put, drank the pool, and used it for cooking and washing.
The movie was filmed in South Africa with South African actors, but the set looks much like the real Mille Collines. The entrance still looks just like the spot where Paul (the "Hotel Rwanda guy" played in the movie by Don Cheadle) was left standing in the rain in a none too subtle reference to the international community's lack of assistance or intervention in the genocide.


I hadn't brought a swimsuit and didn't really plan to get in the pool. But perfect weather and beautiful surroundings forced a change of heart. So I put on my nylon, quick-dry shorts and a tank top and headed down to the pool. Initially the water felt cold, but the sun kept me warm and gradually I got used to it and swam some laps. After a long, difficult winter, it was spring again. Feeling sun on my skin and knowing that the sun (unlike in Cincinnati) would last more than a few hours or a day brought about a renewal of spirit and a life-affirming sense that things really can get better. Immersing myself in a pool that sustained so many lives felt like a baptism. Everyone who sheltered at the Mille Collines survived the genocide.