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 family, and we remain eternally grateful to her and are all devastated to have lost her. Ben works with Atlas to memorialize his loved ones through funding Atlas’ projects throughout Asia.
Overview
Cambodia remains a poor country and with young people making up a third of the population, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, including children with disabilities face a particularly tough childhood. This is why our partner Kampuchea Balopp is on a mission to assist the development of underprivileged and disabled children through rugby. With Atlas’ support, Kampuchea Balopp aims to develop essential qualities including respect, tolerance, responsibility, spirit, and confidence to participate in their development, as well as an opportunity for children to escape the difficulties of daily life.
Impact
Kampuchea Balopp offers weekly access to sport for more than 900 underprivileged children. With Atlas’ support the programme has seen incredible progress in participation of girls, with over 60% of the children benefitting from the programme female.
Education and inclusion are at the heart of Kampuchea’s programme. Recently, 300 children who were out of education joined the programme with 50% already re-enrolled with KB’s support. 162,000 days of schooling has been shared between the programmes 2500 regular children across the last 3 months.