KLASSics KONFIDENTIAL
The Royal Advocate In line with our Giving theme, KLASSics met with our newest addition to the Alice Smith School Foundation Board and featured alumna, YAM Tengku Datin Paduka Setia Zatashah binti Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah. We were waiting in anticipation as Tengku Zatashah had earlier posted on Instagram how excited she was about coming back to school after all these years. Walking in to our Primary Campus, donning a soft blue kebaya with her cheerful smile and kind voice, no one would have guessed that behind her small stature is a successful entrepreneur that balances a crown on her head while fulfilling her social obligations and relentlessly contributing all her other free time to advocacy and community work. Welcome back to school! This visit must have brought back memories that you had here. I was at Alice Smith School from nursery until aged 10 and I have happy memories of my time. I was very shy at that young age, and I remember having private classes with Mrs Lee our headmistress in order to prep for my 10+ Common Entrance Exam to the UK. I remember playing rounders (now the kids tell me they call it touch ball) after school because they felt I was rather isolated and alone. I remember my classmates and could not believe meeting up with Genevieve Sambhi, my dear friend, after all these years. I think I was one of the first to leave for the UK and I recall my classmates all writing letters to me like a pen pal when I moved to London. That was really special and heartwarming. Your work in women empowerment as well as charitable organisations has been much admired. How did it all start? I have been doing charity all my life since I was 10 years old; I was a volunteer with the British Red Cross and Cheshire Homes Oxford when I was 10.
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