It was an exciting week last week for Atlas in Kenya, as the fantastic progress made by the Mobile Classroom caught the attention of Kenyan national news network, Citizen TV. Reporter Bernard Ndong headed down to the bus construction site to interview Kenya Rugby Champion Humphrey Kayange and Bus project manager Fahad Adil about the creation of the bus and the impact it will have on the children in the Kibera slum in Nairobi.

Described by Citizen TV as a "unique initiative", Fahad took pride in sharing the decision to build the bus in Kenya,

"We decided it would be more impactful if we let Kenyans do it. I think so far it has really helped the different suppliers who are working on the project, for example, Master Fabricators have been able to at least 30 people during this COVID period."

Meanwhile, Humphrey also highlighted the local-led initiatives we are proud to champion at Atlas,

"Atlas has programmes across 5 continents and different personnel in those continents ensuring those programmes are successfully running and ensuring the kids from disadvantaged backgrounds [are getting] the opportunities we have been blessed with as professional rugby players."

Simon Shaw was also interviewed about the bus as his "brainchild", stemming from a visit to Nairobi (his birthplace) and Lewa in January 2019. "I couldn't be more thrilled at the amazing work the Foundation are doing [in Kenya], and I just wanted add my bit and help even more, which is where the bus came into play."

"The one thing [all these projects] were missing was accessibility. The ability for the kids to get out to the rugby camps, the educational camps and how could we, as a charity, get to the kids, and it seemed to me that a mobile classroom would be an ideal solution to both those issues. These issues were the same in the North of Kenya...most of the kids had to walk 2 hours to get to school in the morning."