Captain Mbaye Diagne

My hero's name is Mbaye Diagne. He did a lot when no one around him would do anything. For a brief overview he saved Tutsis in Rewanda when their government and the Hutus were committing one of the most grotesque crimes imaginable, genocide. The way he did this was by putting the people that were in harm's way into his car or some other vehicles and transporting them to a safe location where they could be guarded by UN troops.

My definition of a hero is someone who stands up for what they believe in, does the right thing and shows a large amount of courage in the face of serious danger to themselves and to the ones that they are trying to help. To do these things along with successfully saving people makes you a hero.

Mbaye showed a huge amount of courage. He was a fearless man. I don’t know why or how, but I do know that Mbaye had a way with words. He was able to talk his way in, out and around situations and any that occurred. With that power he did so. So I don’t know about you but I would call that courage because no one else was able to do so, and if they were no one knew about it, and he was saving people. And he was doing the right thing. Also, he put himself in danger many times and still continued to save people.

Mbaye Diagne had an approach that almost no one around him had. He jumped into action, coming up with plans to save people. He managed to save hundreds from these plans. The plans were to save as many people as possible with whatever resources that he was given. The most accessible resource was his UN issued Military Jeep. He transported over a hundred of people in this Jeep in under a month. At the same time he was also involved in other plans to save people. He challenged the Hutus that were doing all the killings and he challenged the military that didn’t give them the orders.

This man is very important to me because he set a standard that has never been reached by anyone before. He is important because he saved many lives with little regard to people who didn’t agree with what he was doing. I know that if I were in the same position I would do the same thing or try to do a little more, but like I said he set a new standard. That is where I find my connection with Mbaye Diagne.