ÇEM JİYANÊ NEXŞ DİKİN – Rivers weaving life

The hands-on book ÇEM JİYANÊ NEXŞ DİKİN is an invitation to anyone who wants to  explore  water’s endless stories in a practical way. 

Bişar İçli, Lotta Schäfer and Şermin Güven have developed a workshop from the book's activations, which are available online for everyone, in which we want to approach water and the book together. 

Together with Şermin Güven and her connections from the diaspora in the Euphrates and Tigris river basins, the project Wasserspiegel – Water Bodies was born. The stories, songs and poems, some of which could already be heard in the exhibition space, have now been brought together in this publication together with the illustrations by Narges Mohammadi. The workshop takes place in the garden and begins with a brief introduction of the participants and the book and then flows smoothly into the hands-on part. The biocultural (cultural and ecological) stories in the book encourage exchange, experimentation, and experiencing water. This is exactly what we want to do together with the families from the Yekmal e.V. network and you in a two-hour workshop. 

We warmly invite you to stay for popsicles at the end of the workshop. 

In July 2025, the first cultural tools – in this case, hands-on, collaboratively-produced books –  were handed over to community organizations in Amed/ Diyarbakir and Mardin. Further activations of the these cultural tools are being planned. For example, there will be workshops for multipliers from the education sector with ÇEM JİYANÊ NEXŞ DİKİN in the fall. 

The book has been published in Kurmanci and Sorani. Translations into other languages in the Euphrates and Tigris river basin, such as Kirmanci/Zazaki, Armenian, Arabic, Turkish, Farsi or the languages of the diaspora, such as German here in Berlin, can be tackled together if required. If you would like to take part in the workshop with children and accompanying adults and speak Kurmanci and/ or German, or can translate into other Kurdish dialects or other languages yourself as a family, please send an email with a brief expression of interest and the number of participants. 

If you are interested in the book or the project, please contact lotta.s@spore-inititative.org  

“As part of the Kurdish Culture Days, the event ‚Li ser sopa çemên Kurdistanê - Along the rivers of Kurdistan‘ took place on 25.05.2024. In collaboration with PhD researcher Şermin Güven, Ayhan Urmiye showed the parents and children of the kindergarten how rivers are created in the form of a workshop and role play. The children and their parents were able to interactively slip into the roles of ‘water’ and ‘earth.’” 

–Xemsê Bayram Director Kita Piya