We couldn't have done it without you. We aimed to raise $32,000 for Room To Read to construct The Kengthan Incomplete Primary School in Laos (don't be troubled about the 'incomplete' part, that's just a tricky translation from Lao to describe the education level - it's going to be 100% complete when it's built). It wouldn't be very helpful if we built a school that, for instance, were missing two walls.
Our fundraising events in New York and Silicon Valley alone brought in over $30,000 in generous donations from attendees, but we were pushed [well] over the top through book sales (all of our publisher profits are being donated to Room To Read). So even if you couldn't attend, you helped by buying a book, and even if you didn't buy a book, you helped by spreading the word, and if you didn't do any of those things, that's OK, too.
You can live vicariously through some of our event photos here.
We'll be looking for help to write the dedication plaque to be placed in the completed school next week, but in the meantime, we thought we'd share some photos from Laos. If you're ever in the neighborhood, the xkcd school is in Salavan Province on Road No. 13 South. (Breadpig will be doing a site inspection next year once construction is complete).
Here is their current school.
Those aren't skylights. The holes in the roof make rainy season rather challenging.
So far so good.
[…] since raising $32,000 from the fundraiser book tour, we’ve been keeping you abreast of construction as it’s progressed. And now it’s […]
[…] From the 3-stop book tour alone, we raised enough to build “the xkcd school” in Laos; we’ll be visiting it in 2010 with a few books in hand to confuse the schoolchildren with. On top of that, in a little over three months of sales, Breadpig earned $53,000 in profits (all for Room To Read, of course). We’re coming up with some fun ways to let you, the breadpig legion, decide what literacy & education projects it’ll be used on. In the meantime, we’d like to show you exactly how we did it. […]
I love that you guys did this!! it is so cool to see such a real and concrete difference made in the world – thanks in part to webcomics! go xkcd and breadpig!!
Breadpig is going to do a proper site inspection once classes get underway in 2010. Keep an eye on the blog for the video/photos. We'll bring along a few xkcd books, too, just to see what kind of reaction they elicit…
I approve! The world needs more book hugging anyway.