Practical Information

Group Size

The activity can be carried out in groups of different sizes. However, it is always good to consider to what extent the participants will be willing to present and share the output of their work in a larger group and what time will be needed for the final discussion in such case. All participants should be given the same amount of time for their presentations. With larger groups, others’ presentations may inspire one’s thoughts about their River of Life, and therefore it is necessary to allow enough time for a discussion — there is a chance that participants will add new thoughts to it.

Duration

• Activity introduction: 10 minutes
• Explanation of the creative process and creating River of Life visualizations: 45–50 minutes
• Discussion and conclusion of River of Life visualizations: 30–45 minutes (according to the group size)

Materials

• A flipchart to show how to draw a River of Life
• Flipcharts (a possibility to cut them into two A3 halves) for individual Rivers of Life
• Writing implements, coloured marker pens, coloured pencils
• Masking tape for exhibiting Rivers of Life in the room

Structure and Instructions

“There are a number of situations in our lives in which we went through a negative experience that stemmed from a particular stereotype. These may include, for example, ridicule, offence, a hate comment, discrimination stemming from stereotypes about men and women roles, stereotypes about LGBTQIA+ people, or stereotypes about behaviour of ethnic groups. These situations personally affect us — with higher or lower intensity — and influence our future attitudes and behaviour in relationships we build. At this moment, therefore, we would like to focus on ourselves — on our own experiences with stereotypes, on the intensity with which they impacted us, and on the waves they made in our relationships.”

Facilitator Team, NESEHNUTÍ

The River’s Story — Introduction

Have participants sit comfortably so that everyone can clearly see the flipchart paper. We read out the River’s story while having it visualized simultaneously by the second facilitator on paper. Read the story to the best of your storytelling abilities (read slowly, work with pauses and the tone of your voice). We aim to immerse participants in the story, so they imagine it vividly in front of them. The visual portrayal helps this a lot.

“Imagine a river passes near you. How does it flow? Is it a wild river meandering down the landscape or a majestic watercourse flowing slowly yet steadily? Every river begins at its source. This tiny trickle of water flows down the hill; more and more little streams join it, and they form a river. As the river becomes larger, it finds its way through the landscape. It meanders down searching for its course. Along the way, it meets various things: you can see trees, varied plants, and rocks along the river. There are also people taking care of the river: they clean it, they may even swim in it but without doing any harm. For various reasons, some people decide that they do not like where the river flows, and they dam it. They create an artificial waterway and want the river to flow through it. There is a lot of people along it throwing stones in its stream. Some throw playfully. They skim stones which lightly bounce on the water’s surface making small ripples that wear off quickly. Others decide to throw much larger stones in the river causing higher circular waves, and what’s more — these stones churn up life below the water’s surface. There are also those who decide to heap lots of stones on the river bed. For a time, they prevent the river to continue flowing before it breaks through and finds its way again.”

“Imagine your life is this River.

• What is its shape?
• What does the landscape around the River look like?
• What kind of people have entered your River?
• Who has helped to take care of the River?
• Who cleaned it?
• Who tried to direct its way?
• Has there been anyone who tried to straighten its course?

Focus on the stones and imagine they represent particular stereotypes. A stone that means “boys don’t cry”. Or a stone inscribed with “After all, girls don’t look like this”.

• Did somebody throw stones into your River? What kind of stones?
• What have they caused? Were these mere skimming stones that rippled the surface? Or was it a large stone that caused large waves and churned up life under the River’s surface?
• Which particular stones were thrown into your River, and how much they have influenced its course?
• Did anyone throw the same stone into your River multiple times? Was it always the same person or different people?
• Were there more kinds of stones that somebody threw into your river? How big were the waves these stones caused?”

Creating Your River — Instructions on How to Create and Visualize One’s River of Life

Have participants find a place where they would feel pleasant, and have them create their own River on an A3 paper:

• Let us think about our life as if it was a river.
• Who has influenced the course of our River and in what way? We may draw a figure standing beside the River or just express this influence through a drawing, colour, or a mark.
• What kind of stone was thrown into our River? We may draw this stone and add a description which particular stereotype it represents. This can be a full sentence somebody said or just a “headword”.
• Perhaps, we will recall one or two stereotypes/stones thrown by multiple people or, on the contrary, one person who threw repeatedly.
• Possibly, we will recall more stereotypes/stones of various kinds. Let us try to draw these stones, describe them and mark the intensity of ripples/waves they created on the surface of our River.

Explain to participants that they create the River mainly for themselves:

• It must be you in the first place who should understand your River.
• One reason we design the River is that we will work with it later.
• It is a good idea to note which stone represents which stereotype, so we may understand their meaning later.
• We will know what we intended to express in our picture.
• Again, it is important to consider what is significant for us and what we are willing to or not willing to share with others.
• The picture of our River is for us. Others may not need to understand it if we will not want them to.

Before the actual River-drawing starts, tell participants what will happen to their River of Life next:

• We will have a chance to share our Rivers of Life and real stories from it.
• These are your stories, and it is up to you just how much of these stories you will reveal to others.
• We may draw the River just for ourselves and share only general aspects of our story, or we may draw the stories and depict some parts of them more descriptively or colourfully, and this way, share the story through the picture itself.

Discussion

Write the following questions on a flipchart that we share with participants during the discussion:

• What stones/stereotypes appeared in my River?

• What did the stones aim at, and what was the River’s response?

• Why, in your opinion, did others throw stones?

• Is there anything that surprised us concerning our River?

• Is there anything that we realized for the first time?

With the question “Why, in your opinion, did others throw stones?”, the activity tries to highlight that those who act in the oppressor’s role against us do so according to concrete emotions and needs they have. The activity’s main goal is to support young people in developing the ability to name their own emotions and to be able to spot their needs in situations they experience. However, while discerning their emotions and needs, young people talk about specific situations and relationship(s) with a person/group of people that may be committing hateful or discriminatory actions. This is why it is important not to forget during the discussion of River of Life that people who — in the situations we experience — act in the oppressor’s role also feel emotions behind which there are specific needs. NVC techniques teach us not only how to work with our emotions and needs but also to gradually start sensing the emotions and needs of people around us. And this is not about agreeing with those people; it is about facilitating communication which is based on the understanding of these needs and the related feelings.

Facilitator Team, NESEHNUTÍ

Ask your participants to present their River if they want to. Each participant can present and discuss their River of Life in their own way. The questions are provided only to help; they should direct attention to some of the important moments, so that we try to name them and, possibly, share them with others.

Downloadables

• Handout - River of Life (1st Part)