Anita, Alex and Annabel Nicholson Memorial Fund

Fundraising

The London Marathon 2024 falls on the 5th anniversary of the Colombo Easter bombings in which Anitia, Alex and Annabel lost their lives. Following some difficulty in getting places in the race we are delighted to be able to confirm that we are partnering with Muscular Dystrophy UK who have kindly offered to share some places with us. Ben and a team of 2-3 other runners currently have their training well underway and are using the event as a fitting occasion to honour the memories of Anita, Alex and Annabel. Fundraising initiatives are currently underway, more information to follow.

Following the success of the Pre Rugby World Cup dinner we are looking to replicate this event or something similar in preparation for the Lions Tour 2025, more information to follow.

2. Projects

The need to support vulnerable children and our drive to do so has continued since our last report. We remain determined to keep expanding our reach and maintaining our support to thousands of children, helping with education, health and wellbeing through our programmes in Asia and have been in conversations exploring ways of leveraging partnerships and projects that will benefit the children.

Kampuchea Balopp

The project continues to be a vital pillar for the children in Cambodia to access regular sporting sessions and to feel that sense of inclusion and acceptance all children deserve. 

The KB educators continue to be a testament to the meaningful impact and genuine desire to improve the lives of these disadvantaged communities. 

Khelo Rugby

We are pleased to continue supporting our relationship with Khelo, the recent funding agreement continues to cover their general operations and two tiers of educational scholarships at high school and university levels.   This will ensures the longevity of our relationship with them and the great work they do.

The project to continues to help young children in India to thrive and we are very pleased to be a part of this programme. Atlas Foundation and Khelo Rugby share a drive and determination to support these children in their lives and education.   Not only are the children at Khelo rugby given the chance to express and enjoy themselves through the amazing rugby programme, but the scholarship programmes ensure that children are able to continue their education in circumstances where they otherwise would not.

This has evolved into a truly community led programme with the ethos of “nothing for us without us” bearing on everything they do.

We look to have a tangible and meaningful impact on individual children today, but we also aim to penetrate the stubborn barriers of inequality and deficits that linger in many communities over the long term. Khelo Rugby is a model example of delivering on that long term goal. They have already high school graduation rates rise from 18% to 80% in the communities they serve.

English Language Pilot

We have undertaken a pilot scheme in Kolkota in partnership with Khelo Rugby and Studycat (www.studycat.com ) to operate pop up English classes for young children (ages 6-8). The initial pilot was a success but unfortunately they lost their accommodation to host the classroom this has meant that in Kolkata the classes are temporarily suspended. This has not dampened our enthusiasm and Khelo has taken the opportunity to expand to Sarawatipur.

The data recent analysis for Sarawatipur identifies that 90 % of participant accounts were used on a weekly basis with the average playing time ranging between 20 to 30 minutes per session. The average correct score for each participant ranged between 76% to 87% holding an average of 81%. During the data analysis it was identified that more work is needed on literacy and alphabet areas. When discussed it was exposed that this cohort of children have limited access to books and literature which may account for the data. To address this issue Studycat have kindly donated their books on a PDF format, we plan to have them printed locally in India.

We need to provide 120 books to 30 children at £5($6.30) per book, if you would like to gift a book please click the link: Gift a book to children at Khelo Rugby! | The Atlas Foundation (theatlascharity.org)

We look forward to growing this partnership with Studycat and announcing further expansion in the near future.

Period Poverty

A further initiative we promote and support is Period Poverty and we are engaging all of the projects we support on the importance of supporting girls with the challenges they face every month. This is a long term project with which we will persist.

Other Project news

We are currently in talks with a Myanmar project and another project in Cambodia both of which will allow us to broaden the great work that is carried out giving some of the poorest children the opportunity to thrive.

As always, we thank all our donor and supporters without who this work would not be possible.