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Title details for The Price of Stones by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri - Available

The Price of Stones

Building a School for My Village

by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri
Susan Urbanek Linville
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
An incredibly inspiring and thrilling book, this is the story of Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, who grew up in rural southwestern Uganda, the son of an irascible small-time farmer and his loving wife. In spite of the family's poverty, Jackson succeeds and graduates from the national university with a calling to work in human rights that leads him to Columbia University. There he falls in love with and later marries an American scientist, Beronda.


When Jackson returns to Uganda with his bride, they are overwhelmed by the many villagers who line up to ask for help with food and school fees—and having lost two siblings to AIDS, Jackson is especially moved by the plight of the thousands of abandoned AIDS orphans in his local district. Impulsively, he and Beronda vow to open the first tuition-free school for orphans. A newlywed with little money, and facing opposition from his domineering father and townspeople, Jackson doggedly builds one schoolroom at a time with the help of many supporters in Uganda and the financial pledges of churches in America, and with the sustenance of his strong faith in Jesus Christ.


Weaving together stories from his youth in Uganda and the remarkable account of how one person with a dream can change lives—both his students' and his supporters'—this is an unforgettable book that demonstrates that one person can be a cup of cold water to a thirsty world. The book concludes with the graduation of the first class of Nyaka AIDS orphans, almost all of whom Jackson and his supporters are sponsoring as they continue their education and dream of becoming doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, and even, perhaps, the future president of Uganda.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 10, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400195725
      • File size: 258935 KB
      • Duration: 08:59:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 830
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The author is a Ugandan native with modest rural roots whose worldview was expanded when he studied human rights at Columbia University. But his eyes were truly opened to the plight of AIDS orphans when he returned to his home village in Uganda. Narrator Richard Allen dramatizes the personal characteristics that led Jackson to found a free school for AIDS orphans: ingenuousness and persistent fortitude. Allen lends a graceful lilt to the African names and voices of those who played a role in Jackson's journey--from the initial idea for a small school to the impressive organization that is the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School today. The memoir's simple dialogue and prose are made agreeable, and sometimes even stirring, by Allen's rich narration. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 8, 2010
      So many people die of AIDS in Uganda that at times bodies are stacked in city mortuaries like firewood. Moved by the plight of more than one million AIDS orphans in a nation with a population of 30 million, Kaguri, a human rights advocate returning home after studying at Columbia University, decided to build a school for children who had lost one or both parents to the syndrome. Kaguri and his American wife used their modest resources and contributions from friends and churches to open the two-classroom Nyaka AIDS Orphans School and initiate advocacy campaigns to counteract the superstitions that have stigmatized HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Anecdotes about the students, the author’s family—his own brother and sister died from the disease—and his dealings with donors and corrupt officials, reveal Kaguri to be at once vulnerable and ferociously determined. Written in simple, straightforward style, the book is an affecting and accessible tribute to the difference one person can make in the world.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:830
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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