VOX POP tête-à-tête – 6th November 2013
Dr Brenda Davis and Sourp Magar Monastery
By Engin Dervişağa
Dr Brenda Davis
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Brenda Davis who now lives in Zambia but travels extensively and has made a visit to Cyprus to do a series of workshops in connection with healing and spiritual development.
I asked Brenda what she enjoyed in her line of work and she told me it is her love of people, everyone is unique and has a story to tell. I also asked about the most challenging
and life changing experiences she had and she told me that she had a depressive illness which changed her life and at that time she moved from surgery to psychiatry and preceding this a life changing time in Zambia. Brenda did surgery in the 1970’s at a University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka and also for a time in England.
Brenda went on to say that everyone has talent and she likes to be able to help them find it. She finds satisfaction in her healing work and relationship with the Divine, who most people refer to as God. People who Brenda admires and has had inspiration from are Nelson Mandela, Ghandi and also Barack Obama who she feels is a very spiritual man.
I went on to ask what were Brenda’s guiding principles and she said they are updating the truth and helping people to move on to peace, not through politics but within themselves.
On a more personal note Brenda told me that she has a son with a family in England and a daughter in Zambia and while she is able to see her grandchildren in Zambia frequently she is also able to see her grandchildren in 
England fairly often when she visits her ex-husband in Wales, where she makes her base when she is touring Europe.
Brenda said that in addition to her work she had written a screen play which she would like to see made into a film and she is also writing a novel which she would like to see published. In addition to this she would like to have many more great grandchildren.
On a final note Brenda said that she hopes to come back to Cyprus regularly. She does not intend to open a school here but would like to come and do workshops for Peace and Inter-cultural work. She has Brenda Davis International Schools for Healing and Spiritual Development in England, Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, United States, Zambia and in Zimbabwe next month and Brazil next year.
I asked Brenda if she had a slogan and she said this is Be the Best that we can Become, or better still Just Be.
Sourp Magar Monastery
I went with my film crew to visit the Armenian Monastery of Sourp Magar which was established in 1000AD. The Coptic Monastery is dedicated to the Egyptian hermit 
St. Makarios of Alexandria 309-404AD.
The monastery is located at the edge of a cliff and a deep ravine in a very picturesque area. It was used as a summer resort by the Armenian community in Nicosia and was passed to the Armenian Church in the early 15th century. It became a pilgrimage spot for Armenians to and from the Holy Land until 1974.
The present day ruins date from the 19th century and within the buildings there is a pillar inscribed in Armenian and dated 1933.
This was an extremely enjoyable visit and we filmed around this very tranquil and peaceful area which was shown on my Vox Pop programme on BRT2 Television.
