This link attaches to a Youtube video that was taken from the PBS documentary “Ghosts of Rwanda”, which is about the genocide that occurred there. The video comes from a section of the documentary which talks about Captain Mbaye Diagne. When watching the video, I was surprised by the fact that in the midst of all of this turmoil and terror, Mbaye really did seem to have a smile on his face all the time. Though that may seem like a bad thing, seeing as everyone in Rwanda was constantly surrounded by death at the time, I see it as something different. I think that Mbaye’s smile was simply a reassuring one, and that he might not necessarily have been happy all the time, but wore his smile to give everyone some confidence in such a dark time and to let everyone know that one day the tough days would end. Maybe that’s how Mbaye could slip his refugees past all of those Hutu checkpoints, even the Hutus in all of the evil crimes they committed just needed a smile. In the video I was also surprised by the fact that Captain Mbaye’s rescue missions were kept secret from the UN headquarters, and that few people knew of his life saving plans. They had said I the video that if people knew that a Senegalese man like Mbaye was saving Tutsi lives, he would be killed. The video was not exactly clear in the reasoning for this, but if it is true, that just makes Mbaye's feats all that more amazing that he was able to accomplish all of this, and keep it all a secret.
I believe ive seen this clip before. However this time, i picked up on the words "unarmed man". This unarmed man played his enemies and did his best to save innocent lives while trying to act cool and lift spirits. That's something. Thanks for sharing.
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