The ceremony featured opening remarks from Mayor Ron Nirenberg, a presentation by keynote speaker, Paul Rusesabagina, San Antonio Poet Laureate Octavio Quintanilla, and a short presentation from DreamWeek Founder Shokare Nakpodia.
Paul Rusesabagina is a Rwandan humanitarian who, while working as a house manager at the Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali, hid and protected 1,268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees from the Interahamwe militia during the Rwandan genocide. None of those refugees were hurt or killed during the attacks.
Rusesabagina’s efforts were the basis of the fictional Academy Award-nominated film Hotel Rwanda (2004), in which he was portrayed by American actor Don Cheadle. He has homes in Brussels, Belgium and San Antonio, Texas. Rusesabagina founded the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation to fight for global human rights.