Clinton School student Ali Turro can now add the title of published photographer to her resume. Next summer, Viking/Penguin Publishing will release “The Price of Stones,” written by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri. The book’s cover will feature a photograph that Turro took this summer while completing her International Public Service Project in Uganda.
Kaguri is the founder and executive director of the Nyaka AIDS Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of Ugandan children and families closely affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. In the book, Kaguri writes about his life growing up in a small African village and how, as a successful adult living in the United States, he has been able to give back to his community through the building of schools.
Turro spent 12 weeks living and working at the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School, the first primary school that Kaguri envisioned and created. Through qualitative interviews and quantitative data collection, she developed the school’s model plan which will be used to generate funding and expansion initiatives.
Like many other Clinton School students, Turro kept on online blog while she was abroad to share her experiences with others. Designers at Viking/Penguin came across the photograph on her blog site (www.ugandaloveit.wordpress.com) and asked to use it for the cover. All compensation for the photograph will be donated to the Nyaka AIDS Foundation to support their educational activities.
To learn more about Nyaka, visit its website at www.nyakaschool.org. And make sure to keep an eye out for “The Price of Stones” in bookstores in June 2010.