By Beatrice Quinney | Marketing & Communications Officer
Atlas Asia was set up to continue the work of The Nicholson Memorial Fund. The Nicholson Memorial Fund was set up by Ben Nicholson in memory of his wife Anita and their two children Alex and Annabel who tragically lost their lives in the Sri Lanka bombings on Easter Sunday 2019. Anita was a hugely popular member of The Atlas Foundation family. She set up and ran our first ever fundraising dinner with a Halloween themed event at the Singapore Cricket Club on 31st October 2018 with Jason Leonard there to promote Atlas’s work in the Far East, raising over £20,000. We remain eternally grateful to her and are all devastated to have lost her.
Projects:
The need to support vulnerable children in Asia continues and we remain committed to that goal. We are determined to keep expanding our reach and maintaining support to thousands of children, helping with education, health and wellbeing through our partner programmes in Asia.
Future Hope and Khelo Rugby:
We are delighted to confirm our continued engagement with Future Hope and Khelo rugby in the renewal of their recent grant, we look forward to more exciting ways of collaborating and supporting the work they do in the communities their serve.
In Saraswatipur, a village set within an elephant corridor in North East India, childhood is shaped by daily survival; limited water, unreliable electricity, and the threat of wildlife destroying homes and infrastructure. Our local partner, Khelo, listened to what the children wanted most: a safe place to learn. From that, the Sunrise Centre was born. Today, the centre provides clean water, secure study areas, English lessons through Studycat, healthy meals, and even a protective wall to keep curious elephants at a safe distance.
The Sunrise Centre demonstrates how intentionally created safe spaces can provide children with both security and purpose.
Lanna Rugby Club:
Beyond sporting success, this milestone represents something much deeper. Many of Lanna’s young players are stateless children of migrant workers from Myanmar, living with limited rights and movement. Yet, through rugby, they’re gaining access to opportunities once thought impossible, from traveling outside their province to seeing the ocean for the first time.
Lanna is working with disadvantaged children and youth in marginalised groups facing socio-economic difficulties, providing them with care, education, and community support. Through rugby, they are nurturing confidence and leadership in the next generation.
We are delighted to announce that we are about to approach our third year of funding with Lanna, the allocated grant has been increased due to the success of the project, they have taken on another NGO and therefore more children.
In May Lanna was involved in the Chiangmai International Touch Tournament. They had 10 of their U19s play in the open division, 6 of the 10 were part of the original cohort that started Lanna Cubs program 5 years ago.
The children also took part in a safety and hydration talk by Procari Sweat a local electrolyte company explaining the dangers and signs of dehydration. An important lesson to learn in tropical Thailand.
Lanna’s Director of Rugby, Matthew Hirst, shared: “With the support of The Atlas Foundation and the Anitia, Alex and Annabel Nicholson Memorial Fund we are starting to bridge the gap between the youth program and our adult program. Showing that they are truly part of the Lanna Rugby Club Family.”
A great reminder of how rugby creates opportunities for education, wellbeing, and safe environments for young people.
Mixed Ability Rugby:
Following the success of the Mixed Ability Rugby (MAR) pilot in 2022 the project has grown from strength to strength in Singapore providing children with intellectual and physical disabilities the opportunity to participate in and enjoy team sports. This was the first attempt at a MAR tournament hosting sixty-four children across five schools. The event was kindly hosted by Dulwich College Singapore at their fantastic facility, (overlooked by the Nicholson Sports Centre, named after Alex, Annabel and Anita Nicholson) and was a huge success. We now look forward to planning our next event!
The feedback from the schools and parents has been very strong. In particular on the benefits being felt by the children in the program in terms of providing a team sport outlet to children with some very challenging disabilities, boosting their confidence and self worth and also promoting greater understanding and empathy among children in the mainstream schools. They also have an enormous amount of fun!
We are currently looking at ways to expand the program and provide this opportunity to more children and include more schools and specialist societies/associations.
Kampuchea Balopp – Cambodia
The KB project continues to be a vital pillar of support for disadvantaged children in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It allows the children in the programme to access regular rugby sessions and to feel that sense of inclusion and acceptance all children deserve.
The KB educators continue to make a positive impact and have a genuine desire to improve the lives of these very disadvantaged children.
WAH Foundation Language lab:
WAH Foundation, we are currently finalising our second year of funding. The language lab is going well, with two full time staff who are running the project it continues to be run from a purpose-built classroom in a Cambodian government school with currently 180 children within the school using the lab. WAH Foundation is looking to extend the reach of the project and are trialing a mobile language lab using the existing equipment, with the objective of reaching children in some of the most rural and poorest communities in Cambodia. The first stage of the trial has been a success reaching an additional 20 children. We are currently exploring with WAH Foundation how this proof of concept can now be used to make this a more substantive part of the project.
By Beatrice Quinney | Marketing & Communications Officer
By Beatrice Quinney | Marketing & Communications Officer
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