The Team
Coordinating the camp’s logistics, improvising solutions to all types of situations, always having an open ear: The camp team! Made up of six individuals who each have their own story with and love for the camp. This page gives you an overview on our team member’s backgrounds and responsibilities.
Latifa
Perhaps the best-known face of the camp is Latifa, who so wonderfully leads us through the circle three times a day with her powerful voice. She also takes care of organizing the staff in the background. She has been part of the team since 2017 and what she loves most about the camp is that so many different people can be together in such a peaceful, healing and joyful way. The camp is like a model experiment for world peace! Her highlights are making music together with the many talented people at the camp, singing in a circle and being able to stomp around barefoot for three weeks in a row. For her personally, the work camp was the doorway to the camp and thus also to the path of the Sufis.
Nirtan
Nirtan has long been responsible for the work camp and take-down, as well as for many technical areas during the camp. He writes: “I have been coming to the camp for many years, first as a participant in Pir Vilayat’s time, and from the mid-90s also to the workcamp. Every year I have looked forward to the meadows, forests and mountains, to the beautiful atmosphere, to the inspiring teachers, to silence and retreat, and to the good friends at camp. I love singing in a circle. These simple songs get us in the mood and bring us together. At work camp, I love the physical work we do together. Every time I am happy to see how all of us, from very different backgrounds and ages, start to blossom like flowers after a few days, each with a different color, and that we show each other the best of ourselves. We build a beautiful camp with fun and passion!”
Gemma
What Gemma loves about camp is that so many different people come together in a big circle to hold hands – year after year after year. She went to camp every year of her childhood. Many experiences of closeness to nature and freedom made the piece of earth of the camp hill in Campra a part of her roots. After a long break from camp, she returned in 2023 as head of the children’s tent, meanwhile having become a world traveler and wilderness educator. This year, she is particularly looking forward to the nature, the pine forest, lying in the hammock and walking barefoot, as well working in the children’s tent, playing together, making things, singing, sitting in a circle, laughing, discovering, discussing, living with lightness and freedom. Meeting people again and anew.
Nori
What Nori particularly loves about the camp is the atmosphere of community, where he feels wonderfully at home and alive. The work camp and the campfires have a special place in his heart. Nori was an audio engineer at the camp for several years before he was able to bring his pedagogical training to bear as part of the children’s tent team. In 2023, he took over the camp’s secretariat from Leon, and he is currently supporting the camp in its transition processes as manager for a year. Nori lives and works at the Caduceus Center.
Isha
Isha has spent every summer at Zenith Sufi Camp since she was a child. She has gained valuable experience in serving the community in many different staff jobs, as well as a children’s tent co-leader and in her role as Zenith’s management. What Isha loves about the camp is the open-hearted togetherness in community, singing and dancing together, celebrating and going into the depths of the soul. She is always touched by how the camp opens up space for special encounters with herself and others. She lives in Switzerland, together with her daughter.
Rose
“My first visit to Camp Zenith was in 1994. A year later I returned and didn’t miss out on a summer for almost thirty years in a row. At that time thirty years ago, all the meals were prepared on gas stoves in a tent right in the center of the camp. All participants went on kitchen-duty at least once during their stay. This lead to an energy exchange between the program held in the big tents and the work necessary for all to be nourished. I learned about our lineage, that following the Sufi path doesn’t mean to reject the world by spiritual practice, but to enable us to experience our life in the world in a more integrated and deeper way. I feel enriched and honored by all beautiful experiences and memories and glad to be of service in my role as head of the kitchen today.”
