This page is for Reader reaction to The Price of Stones. Any comments you wish to share with the community can be posted here, using the Leave a Reply form below.
Items posted under my name (Stephen Ramey) are reader reaction received through Jackson’s Facebook page, email, Amazon reviews, etc. If you’ve finished the book and deem it worthy of support, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders where other readers will see it.
I just finished your book “The price of Stones” What an amazing and inspirational man you are. Thank you for all you have done.
Catherine Rozzi Polance
Thanks Catherine. What part was mostly inspiring to you?
I read your book The Price of Stones in two day’s time and have loaned it to a friend to read. What an inspiring story! Thank you for all you’ve done for the children and sharing their story with us. God bless you and all who help you, and God bless the children.
Valeria Baker
Hi Valeria,
Thanks for leaving a comment. Let your friend buy a copy too and please encourage your local public library to carry our book. Where are you based?
Hey!! I have really enjoyed the book so far. It is stupendous!! By the way i was reading and noticed today is Nicolas’s birthday!! Wish him a happy birthday for me!!
Elise Maynard
Just got THE PRICE OF STONES yesterday. Can hardly put it down! It is so awesome and you are AMAZINGLY blessed my brother. Got to the part where you recalled that first Benefit Dinner for the school that David, Allen, & I put together and almost fell out of my chair! Your kind words will edify me daily — forever!
Otto Ray
I finished reading Jackson Kaguri’s The Price of Stones. Make sure you add it to your summer reading list. I challenge you not to be moved to support the amazing work of the Nyaka AIDS Foundation.
Nathan Triplett
Nathan, thank you. I will see you at Rotary on Monday. Hi readers, if there is a Rotary club in your area, let them know I can speak at their meeting or District conference. I am the president of my local club in East Lansing.
A very good five star review by T. Tilson at Amazon.com.
So much suffering goes on in our world and we are usually ignorant of most of it. Reading this remarkable story has encouraged me to make sure our children know they can make changes for good where others are suffering. Well written, Jackson’s book includes stories of his childhood that illustrate how he became a man who would sacrifice so much for the sake of others in his village. While this book does paint a vivid picture of the plight of AIDS victims and orphans in Uganda, the author balances the suffering with stories of hope and achievement, emphasizing how drastically an education can change one’s life. Highly, highly recommended.
from a touching e-mail to Jackson. We have not included the person’s name, because we do not have formal permission to use it here. The message reflects the power of this book so well that we felt compelled to share it in some fashion.
I woke up at 2:00 in the morning so I could finish reading this book. Here are my top thoughts to describe this book: gripping, inspiring, heartbreaking, bringing hope to the hopeless, a call to live life with purpose. A MUST READ!
Kate Kenny Skidmore
Kate, I admire you for waking up in the middle of the night to finish our book. The last pages have a call to action. I am hoping you will gather your friends and keep the word out. There still so much to be done.
Dear Jackson,
I have finished your book and was deeply impressed by it. I like the way you alternate the story of building the school with your own early life — all very moving. I have written you a note about it, enclosed with the check I am sending you for the school. I will put it in the mail today. And I am planning to buy several other copies, for relatives who have lived and worked in Uganda: Carey’s brother, a microbiologist and his wife, a historian, who were both at the university in Kampala, I believe, for a year, and are strong supporters of EDUCATE; another brother, an MD, who is concerned with children’s HIV/AIDS and has traveled in that connection in various places in Africa, and his daughter, an anthropologist whose main work is in Kenya. I know they will all be interested in what you have done and are doing.
I hope the school is not endangered by the recent violence in Kampala — what a distressing business that is.
All the best to you and your family and your school.
Joan Ferrante
I got a copy and read the book in less than 24 hours. It is hard to put down! The heartbreak and inspiration of Jackson Kaguri is a treasure. Please support his cause.
Lori Saltman Brasic
A review on Amazon.com by David W. Liu
This is the first time I have written a review, but I felt that i needed to say something. I have read lots of books about journeys of Americans who were moved to travel to other countires and make a difference. This is the first story I have read of a under resourced person making a difference in their own country. So many hard working young people come the the US for education and make a life in the US or other Western countries. They are very appreciative of their opportunites but give their lives to just helping their own families live better. Twesigye Jackson didnt forget his roots. He made a huge difference in the lives of the AIDS orphans of southwest Uganda and lived out his values. I’m sure you will find that the story is capitvating and inspiring.
From Amazon.com, a review by P. Smith.
Haunting and beautiful, September 11, 2010
I finished reading this book some time ago and it has resonated with me ever since. It’s the kind of book that makes you ask yourself hard questions about your own life and commit to living it more fully and more engaged and aware. The book is written as a biography not only of Jackson but also his village and describes the motivation behind the building of the school (which, since publication of this book, has expanded to include a second school and a library). Along the way obstacles to the childrens’ attendance at school are discovered and successfully addressed (including a most basic need that most American parents don’t think twice about – providing santitary products to adolescent girls who would otherwise drop out when their menses begin)and the children are blooming and doing wonderfully in their studies. The grannies who are raising these orphans have strength to a degree rarely seen in this country and their resilience and pride show on their beautiful faces. Please do yourself a favor and read this book. With all the negative, ugly news we hear every day it is such a reassurance to know there are people like Jackson in the world. Read the book…..you’ll want to help and be a part of an uncorrupted, love-filled solution that hopefully will be emulated in other places. Oprah….recommend this book!!
Thank you for not giving up in the face of overwhelming need in your village and country. Thank you for sharing the heartbreaks in a gripping story. I just received your book as a Christmas gift from my daughter and have read it already. She’s been to Uganda twice with her church, and now you’ve helped me catch her love and burden for the loving people there. I promise to tell others! I’m moved to support your work and God BLESS YOU! for being His feet, hands, and loving arms to children who need to know their heavenly Father. I’d heard about AIDS orphans in Africa, but had no idea how widespread an issue it is. God bless you all!