Duchess of Cornwall visits Jeddah’s Nafisa Shams Academy

Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, wife of Crown Prince Charles, visited on Sunday Nafisa Shams Academy for Art and Crafts, one of the job creation programs of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI).
The program provides training and job opportunities for women.
The Duchess was welcomed by Hadya Abdul Latif Jameel, Sajeea Hussein, Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel and Nada Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel.
The purpose of the visit was to learn about the training programs provided by the Academy for the labor market. This visit of the Duchess of Cornwall was part of Prince of Wales’ visit to the Kingdom.
Camilla was introduced to the sections of the Academy and visited training workshops specialized in makeup, tailoring and food preparation. She met with the trainees in makeup, rug design, hairstyling, tailoring and fashion design.
Zain Zedan, manager of the Art and Culture Initiative, and Jawaher Al Zahrani, general manager of the Academy, explained to the visitors the various training programs and the cooperation with the private sector to qualify women for work.
Duchess of Cornwall said she was pleased with the programs. She with trainees and discussed the details of the training programs. She then examined types of rug products of the Academy and sampled some of the cookies prepared in the training areas.
She said she wishes for a similar academy in London.
Camilla also admired the efforts of Abdul Lateef Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI) supporting program of Nafisa Shams Academy and was impressed by the talent of Saudi women.
“The work they are doing is amazing, a very elegant work has been done by Saudi girls in all the fields, rugs designed beautifully, also the prayer beads are so admirable that there is no doubt Saudi women are very creative and talented,” she said.
She also said that she sees a drastic change and development since her last visit to the kingdom five years ago and noticed that Saudi women are ambitious.
“The girls are remarkably intelligent and talented,” said Camilla. “I saw a great difference, a progressive development. The best example is that the King gave access to women in Shoura council. I am lucky to explore the changes and Saudi women talents and interact with lovely Saudi women.”
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, president of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI), thanked the Duchess of Cornwall for her kind visit to the Academy.
He said that the visit comes as a drive for the Academy to launch more training programs that help highlighting the bright future awaiting the young Saudi females in different fields.
The academy was established in 2006 on an area of 10,000 square meters, Nafisa Shams Academy for Arts and Crafts is part of Bab Rizq Jameel programs that is seeking to develop skills of young Saudi women and sharpen their skills to join the labor market in the Kingdom.
The Academy was named after Nafisa Shams, wife of Sheikh Abdul Latif Jameel, may God rest them in peace. Through diversified training programs, the Academy provides several options for trainees eager to find job opportunities. Since 2006, Nafisa Shams Academy provided training for 6,065 trainees through 43 training courses organized in 28 workshops.
The academy has two training tracks according to their objectives and duration as qualification program and short term program.
The short terms programs that develop trainee’s skills and enhance their competence. The qualification programs includes make up art, hairstyling, tailoring, fashion design, digital photography and cooking. Also included are marketing skills, customer service, human resource and secretarial work.