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Please Help A photo book celebrating Rwanda and Gorillas
90% of profits go to schools funded by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
Austin, Texas, United States Photography
Savoring the world only takes place when you all get along.
The world makes no sense without friendship.
- Rwandan Proverb
December 5, in the year of our Lord 2014 --
This year, my wife and I completed a 20 year dream and got to
visit the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. We experienced all that
Rwanda had to offer in an unforgettable five day adventure. From
the bustling capital city of Kigali to the beautiful mountains
of the Volcanoes National Park, it was a breathtaking experience
from start to finish.
During our trip, we visited a local school that is supported by
the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and got to spend time with some
truly inspiring children who touched our hearts and left us
wanting to help them further. This school is the children's
opportunity to be educated, learn English as a second language
and make a better life for themselves.
The gratitude shown towards us was one of the most genuine and
moving experiences of our lives. We'll never forget the looks of
joy and the cheering we heard from the dozens of children that
surrounded our car when we gave them a soccer ball that we had
hand carried from the US... Their appreciation for something we
think of as so simple left us wanting to do more.
With that, we came up with the idea of creating a photo-book of
our travels to share our experiences and give back to the local
community. We're looking for your help to publish this high
quality hardcover photo-book celebrating all of Rwanda, and in
doing so you'll contribute to a wonderful cause: directly
helping to support schools helped by the Dian Fossey Gorilla
Fund. http://gorillafund.org/about_us.
Our journey is complete and after weeks of poring over hundreds
of pictures we have chosen the very best images and using Adobe
Lightroom 5 have created a wonderful book celebrating the sights
and sounds of Rwanda, focusing on our journey to visit the
mountain gorillas and a whole lot more.
This campaign is to raise enough money to do a print run of 750
copies of the book via www.blurb.com and in doing so we will
sell them online, donating 90% of all profits to the Dian Fossey
Gorilla Fund
We are doing a fixed funding, all or nothing campaign and we
need to meet the minimum goal of US $15,000 to be able to do the
initial print run of the book.
Thank you in advance for your contribution and support; even
helping to spread the word is what helps to make crowd-funding
work.
We appreciate any and all help you can give us!
Paul and Nicola
Our Story
My wife and I met in the summer of 1994 and became fast friends
with an awful lot in common. One of those things was a love of
mountain gorillas, which came from watching movies going all the
way back to the original King Kong but encapsulated in the movie
Gorillas in the Mist.
It was always our dream to visit the gorillas in person, but at
the same time we always felt it would be one of those “bucket
list” items that we’d never really achieve. I’m happy to say
that twenty years later we achieved our goal and got to
experience these magnificent creatures in person, but as it
turns out, our trip ended up being much more than that.
In our short time there we got to experience Rwanda; a country
that’s been through its own share of heartache and pain, but has
managed to survive, grow and even thrive. Our visit included a
heartbreaking trip to the genocide memorial, but also an
uplifting visit to a local primary school being supported by the
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
Getting to be there in person was always a privilege, but being
able to meet the local community, see their way of life and most
importantly to experience truly friendly, hopeful and good
people touched us so much that we wanted to find a way to give
something back.
This book is our way of saying thank you to the people of Rwanda
and to help the schools in the areas that are local to the
gorillas in the process.
· 72 pages – A mixture of full page and smaller collections of
pictures including landscapes, wildlife, the people of Rwanda
and of course, a whole section devoted to the gorillas.
· 10 x 8 inches – Full-color, hardcover photography book,
printed and published by www.blurb.com
· Price – £35 RRP (+ £12 international Postage and Packaging)
· Ship Date – The book will ship from the middle of March 2015
Our costs… and what you get in return
The journey is done, the photographs have been taken and the
book has been completed; we have received our first printed
version for final review. All that remains is to publish it.
· We have included a number of perk levels and we are thankful
if you can even share our campaign; anything and everything you
can do to help is appreciated!
· At the highest donation levels I am extremely pleased to offer
you a unique piece of artwork as a digital wallpaper, postcard,
fine art print or canvas giclée of one of the Silverbacks we met
on our journey digitally painted by the incredibly talented
former Disney artist, Mark Stefanowicz
· Mark's techniques are derived from the 17th century Baroque
Era and with his use of layering colors, the light bounces
through them to the canvas and back to give you the most vivid
image imaginable. A truly unforgettable, magnificent gift!
· As you can hopefully see, we're making a very high quality
book (and depending on your contribution, some beautiful artwork
too). The book is being professionally printed by www.blurb.com
and we’re delighted with the quality; we’re sure you will be
too.
· To bring the cost of publishing down to a price where we can
sell the books at a reasonable price, a minimum print run of 750
books has to be done. If we beat the stretch goal, then the
printing cost will come down even further, which will allow even
more profit to go to charity.
· This campaign will pay for the print run of the books. After
all costs, including but not limited to Indiegogo fees,
printing, fulfillment and shipping, we will be donating 90% of
the profits from each book sale directly to the Dian Fossey
Gorilla Fund with the intention of the money raised being used
to further help the schools already being supported.
· Shipping costs are included in the prices, but please note
that these cover shipping within the United States only. There
is a higher level perk and for that we’ll be able to ship
anywhere in the world.
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