Current President of the NWSC Board of Directors, Ginger (Nuria) is completing her final year of service in this capacity. She is a Certified leader and mentor for the Dances of Universal Peace and took bayat (initiation on the path of Sufism) in 1993 from Majida Nelson. Between 1993 and now, Ginger Nuria has led dances and taught drumming for dances in such far-flung places as New Zealand and Russia, lately settling into the PNW as her home community.

In addition to serving on the boards of Northwest Sufi Camp, Oneness Project,  Wilderness Dance Camp and Dances of Universal Peace International, Ginger had a 20-year private practice in Bozeman, MT in the field of geriatrics: working with hospice, dementia, post-rehab and brain fitness. She has recently relocated to Chico, CA.

“Since my first camp around 1996, Northwest Sufi Camp continues to be a place of homecoming. Like a powwow, tribes and clans gather at the Well of NWSC.  We come from all directions to sit with each other and fill our cups with the message of Unity and be reminded that there is only One Being.  I love the family feeling and the sound of children and the sound of voices singing late into the night. My soul is replenished by the gathering of loving hearts, dedicated to making a difference in the world through Love, Harmony and Beauty. Along with the gathering of family, it remains a privilege to play music in support of our practices. Being at camp fills me up so that my lighthouse can shine on in the world where it is so dearly needed.”

Nur Wali is a believable Pacific Northwester, growing up in Idaho and then working for almost a decade in southern Oregon until shifting to western Washington for a seven-year stint.  With a calling for clinical counseling work, Nur’s devotion in this lifetime greatly revolves around the Healing ray, and you will also find him gravitating in every direction that leads to pristine Nature, but mostly North it seems.    

Nur Wali first attended NWSC in 2006 and took initiation with his dear guide, Saladin.  Nur has worked on kitchen staff initially, and then earth plane crew since and to the present time.  He began serving annually as NWSC camp counselor in 2015. He joined the NWSC Board of Directors in 2014 and then completed two terms. Nur was then on hiatus for two years as he shifted his house, trekked and counseled in the wilderness of Olympic National Park, and completed a brief counseling residency in Bhutan at the National Referral Hospital. Nur Wali rejoined the board in 2022 and as of August 2025 will have completed another 3 year term.  Nur’s commitment to serving NWSC deepened ever more in 2022 at the “Tree of Life” NWSC.  After camp he helped the guest teachers Rashida and Jamal transport the heart of the gift from the Despacho Ceremony onto Mt. Hood. The heart of the camp’s gift offering is now buried below Illumination Rock-- with a great and humble plea to the mountain governing this region to please have a relationship with NWSC and look after and help our camp be sustained and nourished.

Alima is a second generation Sufi and grew up attending Northwest Sufi Camp as well as local dances and events. A primary focus of her practice is exploring how to be fully present in the world, to see and experience the joy and pain, and within it witness the sacred. You might find her sitting or walking in silence on a Khilvat, or on a dance floor swing dancing to live jazz.

“Northwest Sufi Camp has been part of my annual rhythm throughout my life: it helped form who I am and my place within our community. It is a place of community and exploration. Adult Sufis have many opportunities for retreat and deep spiritual development, but few chances to bring their children and allow them to glimpse into this path. That is one of the great joys of NWSC; the building of our community. Alima is a second generation Sufi and grew up attending Northwest Sufi Camp as well as local dances and events. A primary focus of her practice is exploring how to be fully present in the world, to see and experience the joy and pain, and within it witness the sacred.”

I have been coming to NWSC since its inception over 45 years ago. I brought my 4 kids for many years and feel the experience was an important positive part of their life experience. I am a Khalif in the Ruhaniat Sufi order. I have been involved in all phases of the camp over the years, earth plane lead, spiritual director, and board member.  My service in this important work of building spiritual community and spreading the message of Sufism – which is the goal of NWSC – brings my life joy and meaning.  Blessings. Iman

Abdullah Arshad has been deeply immersed in the Sufi community since his early years, growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attending Mendocino Sufi Camp even before birth. He has been living in the Pacific Northwest--Portland, Oregon--for the past 13 years and has participated in Northwest Sufi Camp for over a decade. A devoted mureed for nearly 10 years, Abdullah is a Shaikh, Mu'alim for the Healing Collective of Sirat-i Inayat, and a cherished leader in local dance and zikr circles. He is also currently a Cherag in training. Abdullah’s spiritual practice is greatly inspired by Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings on healing, and he leads semi-monthly Healing Classes and Healing Services. As a naturopathic physician and founder of Integrative Environmental Wellness, Abdullah integrates medicine, spirituality, and human connection in his healing work, with a particular focus on environmental health and vitality.

“NWSC is a precious time to gather and connect with beloved spiritual community and align ourselves with the natural rhythms of the universe. With so much happening in this busy world, the heartbeat of NWSC provides a welcome opportunity to take a refreshing step away from our routine lives, be closer to nature and be present together. Deeping in prayer and meditation with spiritual friends increases love, compassion, equanimity, awareness and peace. I feel great love and gratitude for this community as it has helped me to rise above the chaos and division of this world, and return to the heart of spiritual unity. NWSC inspires in me service to others as a form of healing, and awakens hope and motivation to create a more compassionate, unified world by cultivating love and empathy. I wish to continue preserving, building, and spreading the message of love together, which transcends all boundaries, religions and ideologies, which is the highest transformative force in the universe through which we can heal divisions and suffering in the world.”

My spiritual infrastructure was built by the first 20 years of my life as a seeker, engaging in different flavors of protestant, mostly evangelical Christianity. Just a few months after completing my seminary degree with the Presbyterians I walked into my first circle of the Dances of Universal Peace (August 1991). In little time I felt that marvelous relief of finding home. (There is a better backstory about a mind-blowing synchronicity that pointed me to the Dances, but that’s a different story.) The depth. The music. The silence. The movement. All of it served up in one interwoven approach of living into Toward the One.

I returned to NWSC in 2019, hoping that this would be part of my retirement plan, to reconnect myself with the wider Sufi community, and to have a community to invest in for my spiritual life. After the interruption of the pandemic, upon returning to NWSC in August 2022 I applied to be on the Board. In 2023, hearing that Zarifah Spain was ready to hand the baton of Camp Manager to the next in the relay, after many weeks of discernment, I said, “Yes. I’ll do it.”

Sufism has been a part of my life for decades. I was initiated and guided by Moineddin Jablonski for 27 years. He was also the guide for my husband, Murad Seymour Hanfling. Our daughters, Naomi and Mira spent many summers reveling in the Kids and Teens Camp here at the NWSC.

Over the years, I have taken to heart the teaching of seeing the Divine in all beings, and that this relationship to the Divine is based on Friendship. I love coming to camp and seeing friends new and old. Being on the NWSC Board is a path of serving my heartfelt friends.

Initiated on the Sufi path in 2002 by Sheik Jamshed, I have been a dedicated board member since 2023. Residing in North Portland with my husband Zahir and our two sweet dogs, Lucy and Sgt. Pepper, I am deeply passionate about the Northwest Sufi Camp. This commitment stems from the joy of connecting with an extended community, where we come together to explore a diverse array of practices led by an eclectic group of teachers. Each experience enriches my journey and fosters meaningful connections within our vibrant community.