Extra Ordinary People
There’s this thing about really special people. They come across as so Ordinary in many respects but we feel uplifted in their presence, and inspired by their words and especially their deeds. There’s a real sense of magnetism about them that we detect immediately. Life seems more positive after meeting them and we can often get a good, clear perspective on our own issues and problems.
I’ve come across a lot of Extra Ordinary people in my few score years this time around on Planet Earth. I feel it is high time to honour some of them by letting more people know about their activities. So this will be an occasional series writing about people I meet and interview in my local and wider community.
Aziz - master camel rider
Aziz
To kick of the series I interviewed two really Extra Ordinary people when I visited the Desert in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt in the Spring of 2010. First off is Aziz, a Sufi Mystic who leads retreats for people seeking to really go in deep and find greater connection with spirit. By day he’s a great Maths teacher at a tough comprehensive in Bermondsey, London. By evening and week-ends he works hard to bring his very own unique brand of spirituality and love to a growing group of people in the UK, Germany and elsewhere. I was blown away by his decisive and compassionate leadership as well as his deep love for song and poetry. His story is quite an amazing one – from an ordinary Greek family to an outstanding spiritual leader. Read on…… special-people/aziz-the-greek-sufi-mystic-in-bermondsey/
Sylvia Muggli
Sylvia - Queen of the Desert
Second in the series is Sylvia Muggli. Sylvia is a Swiss girl who loved mountains and through a whole series of coincidences has ended up running adventure holidays on camel to the Sinai desert. Much more than that she has married an Egyptian and fallen in love with the desert and the Bedouin people who work and live there. The utter respect shown by the 15 male Bedouins who worked with her on a recent Desert Retreat was obvious. Her story is really a lesson to follow your heart, even when war and conflict is raging around you and the sensible thing is to return to safety in Switzerland. The fact that she stayed and her story opened up further is an inspiration to us all.