About a year ago, we asked you, our faithful Breadpig legion, to decide where we should donate $53,000 of profits from the XKCD book sales. We're now proud to show you where your money has gone: into a cheerful new preschool in Sri Lanka and an awesome new library in Nepal!
Breadpig would like to give a big thanks to our awesome partners, Room to Read, for turning our donation into sustainable educational institutions for communities that will enjoy them AND for sending us such amazing write-ups!
The Preschool: Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
Students at the new XKCD preschool in Sri Lanka
Nuwara Eliya is located in the center of Sri Lanka, and ranks second out of the nine provinces in Sri Lanka for absolute poverty. It is also the only district in the country where Indian Tamils form the majority of the population. Although I could not visit Nuwara Eliya on my trip, I was fortunate enough to witness some other preschools in action in Bibile and saw what a great impact these institutions have on education and the community at large. The XKCD preschool in Nuwara Eliya is a cheerful 1000 sqft building that currently serves 43 students (16 females, 27 males) under the supervision of two teachers.
Best of all, in a supplement to our donation, the community itself donated 12% of the resources needed for the school, including the land, the construction materials and tools, and skilled and volunteer labor. For a detailed breakdown, please see the report Room to Read prepared:Â Tharumal Singhithi Preschool (Nuwara Eliya).
The best excerpt from the report? A description of the playground:
A two-seated swing, a math-themed slide, a four-seated see-saw, and a four-seated merry-go-round.
The opening ceremony
Breaking ground during the rainy season: no easy labor!
The dedication plaque
The Library: Bardiya, Nepal
Students studying at the library
Bardiya is a province of Nepal located in the Western Terai, the lowlands on the Indian border. It is famous for its national parks, which are home to royal bengal tigers, elephants, and rhinos. Its majority ethnic group is the Tharu, a tribe of people considered the direct descendants of the Buddha.
I was lucky enough to visit Shree Yuvak secondary school on my trip to Nepal, where I was treated to a spectacular opening ceremony for the library full of traditional Tharu dancing and lots of flowers: many pictures here. The secondary school is grades kindergarten through 10 and houses more than 1500 students and 25 teachers. In addition to constructing a reading room for the crowded school, Room to Read also has a Girls Education Program there which is truly remarkable; many of the girls involved had previously been sold into slavery as "kamlaris" who were moving past their difficult childhoods through education.
Breadpig all wreathed up
Girls Education Program scholars at Shree Yuvak Secondary School
Thanks to the new library, students now have access to books during their leisure time before and after school, as well as dedicated "library periods" of at least 45 minutes of uninterrupted reading time. The community is incredibly excited to have this resource: they provided the doors, windows, locks, lighting, flooring, and paint for the building. The report is here: Shree Yuvak Secondary School CRR CR and more pictures below!
 This is truly wonderful. Thanks Randall and everyone else involved. Thanks for being awesome.
 Aww, that’s so sweet! You guys made a school with comics. Props, for real.Â