Amm Sa'eed Jam'an, 80, is one of the most beloved tourist guides in Najran. After many years he is well accustomed to enchanting tourists with the region's beauty, yet each day he is captivated a little more by the beauty in its details. Everyday he happily shoulders the responsibility of boosting the image of his country to tourists and ensures that their trip is successful. He proudly shares the culture, customs, traditions and social lives of the people in areas where he accompanies tourists during their visits, according to a report in Al-Watan newspaper. Amm Sa'eed admits he cannot read or write, but amazingly he can speak three foreign languages – English, French and German – fluently through his interaction with tourists. He says it is important for him to speak three languages as “what he conveys to tourists so richly compliments the scenes, installations, tourist landmarks, antiquities, tools and trades they see on the ground in the areas they visit.” Amm Sa'eed, or Abu Sanad as he is fondly known, said he learned English when he was working in Aramco, and French and German through his work in an international agency. He worked in Yemen during the war in the sixties before deciding to get into the hospitality sector. Before being granted a license as a tourist guide, he applied to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities which sets the standards a guide must meet and outlines his duties, commitments and rights. He underwent a test by Prince Sultan Bin Salman, the President of the SCTA. “The prince was impressed by my fluent English. This helped me gain knowledge on the history of the region, particularly on ‘The Trench' (Al-Ukhdood),” he said. There is much for Abu Sanad to be proud of in Najran, which is surrounded by orchards, trees and rocky mountains, the highest of which is the 1450-meter-high Abu Hamdan mountain. The area has stunning scenic vistas, particularly the Abi Al-Rashras valley, where water gushes through rocks to irrigate surrounding lands. This remarkable region gives life to a remarkable man just as the remarkable man brings life to the remarkable region.
