Audiobook8 hours
The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village
Written by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri and Susan Urbanek Linville
Narrated by Richard Allen
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
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.
Related to The Price of Stones
Related audiobooks
Southern Boy: Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the 1920-30s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWinter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In Defense of Kindness: Why it Matters, How it Changes Our Lives, and How it Can Save the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning America: One Woman's Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Running the Rift Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dálvi: Six Years in the Arctic Tundra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Play Like a Girl: How a Soccer School in Kenya's Slums Started a Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Dry Season: In the Footsteps of Mary Kingsley Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Poet of Tolstoy Park Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Five Star Billionaire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Country of Women: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years With a Midwife in Mali Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There Is No Me Without You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We, the Survivors: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Warrior Princess: Fighting for Life with Courage and Hope Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Memory of Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Have Mother, Will Travel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares (A Memoir) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shelter: A Black Tale of Homeland, Baltimore Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Elephants Know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of Mumbai Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmong the Tibetans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Waverley, Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo the South Seas: A Wild 1929 Family Adventure to the Galapagos Islands Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
African History For You
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mansa Musa and and Timbuktu: The History of the West African Emperor and Medieval Africa’s Most Fabled City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5African Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Sagas, Rituals and Beliefs of African Myths Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Europe Underdeveloped Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5African Origin of Civilization: The Myth or Reality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cleopatra: The Queen who Challenged Rome and Conquered Eternity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kebra Nagast: The Lost Bible of Rastafarian Wisdom and Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Africa’s Origin Stories: The History and Legacy of the Ancient African Stories that Sought to Explain Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Slave Ship: A Human History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5African Mythology: The Folklore and History of Ancient Africa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Jew a Negro: Being a Study of the Jewish Ancestry from an Impartial Standpoint Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Arabs: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Can't Wait to Call You My Wife: African American Letters of Love and Family in the Civil War Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related categories
Reviews for The Price of Stones
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
2 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This story of how one Jackson Kaguri decided to return home to build a school in his village for AIDS orphans is well written and inspiring. I have a feeling that parts of the narrative have been "tweaked" a bit to make the progression more logical than perhaps real life could ever be, but, still, it shows how one person can make a difference with enough motivation and the appropriate resources and education.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Twesigye Jackson Kaguri’s The Price of Stones is an account of his building a school for AIDS/HIV orphans in rural Uganda. The project is admirable, the writing not as much so. Very little thought seemed to go into word choice or literary technique. Events were listed in the order in which they occurred (with some childhood flashbacks scattered about), and all were delivered with the same tone throughout. The book is liberally sprinkled with praise for Jesus Christ, and there are even a few times when Kaguri tells of the generosity of donors, attributing it to the help of God and barely acknowledging the compassion of his fellow humans. The cover on the book is lovely: smiling children in the vivid purple and white uniforms of the school. The center of the book has photographs of the people in the story, a map is at the front and a helpful glossary of Rukiga words at the back. There is also a list of ways that readers can contribute to the cause. Kaguri’s undertaking is truly worthwhile and heartwarming, his accomplishments enormous. I just would have preferred to read about them in a magazine article.