The River That Split Us: Writing Water, Memory, and Belonging Across Lands by Eda Can Karabal

Introduction

Water doesn’t just pass through pipes and rivers—it moves through our memories. It carries stories, grief, inheritance, and silence. For some, water is a right; for others, a wound. As a newcomer to Canada and a former teacher in Turkey, I’ve seen how water both divides and connects.

My grandmother lived in a village in western Turkey where the Menderes River cut the land in two. Those who lived along its fertile banks were seen as fortunate—water meant life, crops, legacy. But just beyond the river’s reach, people struggled. I grew up hearing these stories over tea, never realizing how deeply water mapped inequality. Now, in Winnipeg, I live near another river—one shaped by a very different story. Water here flows from Shoal Lake 40 to our taps, tracing a path through histories of displacement, resistance, and colonial infrastructure.

This project, The River That Split Us, invites newcomer students to reflect on how water lives in them— through memory, language, migration, and story. Through writing, walking, photography, and dialogue, students will co-create a class storybook titled How We Live Water Differently, exploring their lived and inherited relationships with water.

Project Summary

This project invites newcomer and multilingual students to explore how water shapes identity, memory, and belonging across borders. Grounded in my personal story of the Menderes River in Turkey and my current home by the Red River, the project encourages students to see water not just as a resource—but as a witness to migration, inequality, and resilience.

Using land-based learning, multimodal storytelling, and reflective writing, students will document how they live with water differently—from ancestral rituals and childhood memories to current experiences of winter snow, tap water, and local rivers. These experiences will be woven into a collaborative, photo-rich storybook, published digitally and/or in print, and shared with families, schools, and community organizations that support immigrant and refugee learners.

Participants

This project is designed for high school students who are newcomers to Canada, particularly those in EAL or settlement support programs. Participants will:

• Share personal and/or intergenerational water stories

• Participate in place-based walks and photography activities

• Create visual and written pieces inspired by their experiences

• Co-author and design a class storybook that highlights multiple voices

Context / Place

The project takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation. Students will walk near local water bodies like the Red or Assiniboine Rivers, schoolyards, or urban infrastructure sites. These explorations will be framed through Gillian Judson’s Walking Curriculum, treating land not as background, but as a co-teacher.

Students will also draw on memories from their home countries—seas, rivers, wells, floods, or droughts—connecting them with their lives here. For example, in my own story, the Menderes River divided more than just geography—it shaped social power, survival, and cultural memory. This project invites students to find similar threads in their own lives.

Purpose and Significance

This project centers student voice, lived experience, and creative expression while offering space to reflect on water as both personal and political. It supports cultural identity, narrative agency, and critical awareness.

It asks:

• How does water shape who we are and where we come from?

• What does water remember that we’ve forgotten?

• How can we, as newcomers, write water into the stories we carry—and the ones we’re still creating?

  
  

Project Goals

• To connect writing with students’ lived and inherited experiences of water

• To support multilingual, multimodal expression through poetry, prose, and photography

• To engage land and walking as catalysts for reflection and memory

• To amplify newcomer voices within educational and community spaces

• To cultivate awareness of water justice and Indigenous water sovereignty

• To deepen place-based identity and connection

• To reclaim personal and intergenerational water narratives

• To create a culturally responsive storybook that bridges home and host cultures

Description of the Project

The project is built around the inquiry:

“How does water live in our stories?”

This question guides five core phases of learning:

1. Opening Water Memory Circles

Students begin by sharing stories about water—personal, ancestral, or cultural. These may include:

• A grandmother’s village by a river (e.g., Menderes River story)

• Water rituals like fetching, celebrating, or surviving floods

• First impressions of Canadian water—snow, ice, tap water, rivers

During this session, students sketch or jot sensory notes to capture these initial reflections. These stories become entry points into deeper creative exploration.

2. Place-Walking and Photography

Inspired by ripple effects pedagogy and Judson’s walking curriculum, students:

• Walk near rivers, school grounds, or local infrastructure (fountains, drains, signage)

• Take photos or draw images that connect water to memory, emotion, or identity

• Bring a photo from home depicting water in their lives

• Respond to prompts like:

  • Where does water hide in this place?

  • What does water see when it looks at us?

  • How is this water different from what I knew?

3. Writing Invitations and Storymaking

Each week, students respond to reflective prompts such as:

• Letters: “Dear Water…”, “Dear River That Raised My Grandmother…”

• Poems: Exploring metaphors of longing, movement, or healing

• Stories: Retelling family legends about wells, droughts, or migration

• Multilingual Expression: Including their first languages in poems, captions, or memories

Students are encouraged to write as if water remembers—bringing emotional truth into their work.

4. Co-Creation of a Class Storybook

Students will collectively publish a short storybook titled:

How We Live Water Differently

The book will include:

• Poems, letters, and short narratives

• Photos and/or illustrations taken during walks

• Optional QR codes linking to audio/video storytelling

• A foreword acknowledging the land and water systems of Manitoba

• Student input on layout, design, and order

5. Circulation and Community Sharing

To fulfill Ripple Effects’ emphasis on public sharing, the final storybook will be:

• Printed and/or digitally published

• Shared with families and the school community

• Circulated to newcomer organizations (e.g., IRCOM, Manitoba Start, Needs Centre)

• Submitted to the Ripple Effects blog and MBWP

• Presented through an optional school display:

“Water That Remembers Us” – a visual wall exhibit of student work

• Individual student pieces may also be submitted to youth journals or anthologies