RIVER RIDERS

I am a water lover. My father, from the Black Sea Region of Turkey, shared his love of water with me while I was growing up. Dad grew up in a land where there used to be an abundance of wild rivers with crystal clear waters (he grew up by a river called Yesil Irmak translates as "Green River"). Dad has always appreciated the abundance of life that a river brings. He, as a kid, picked up fruit off the trees, such as apricots, apples, mulberries, peaches, and walnuts, as he played by the river. He grew up as a nature lover and observed the bees, flowers, trees, ducks and many birds in that abundant land. I grew up with stories of nature and water that I adored.
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My family shared their love of water with me as I was growing up, and a couple of memories come up as I think about it. I remember my mom wanting to jump into cold creeks whenever she could. Her joy and love of doing that somehow transferred to me, and I still have the same excitement about soaking my feet in clear waters. I also remember my first swimming lesson with my dad in the sea while I was struggling to keep my head up the water to be able to breathe. He taught me to trust water while showing me how to lay on the sea's surface, holding me gently on my back. "You just let water hold you, just like your bed that holds you while you rest on every night," he said. I loved this trusting relationship with water and enjoyed that many times in my life! I also remember snorkelling with dad in the lukewarm crystal-clear waters of the Marmara Sea. Dad shared his love of many magical creatures with me as he pointed them out underwater. (There was a whole different universe underwater!). So, I learned to love water. 

I grew up in Istanbul, where I watched beautiful crystal clear blue waters turn grey and cloudy as the population slowly and slowly increased. As the years passed by, I could not swim and snorkel at the places that I loved so much once. I witnessed waste being released into creeks and rivers. At that time, I kept telling myself: "this is wrong," and yet did not know what to do. Instead, I just watched this change with sharp pain in my heart. Later after my university years, as I travelled the world, I again witnessed people intentionally or unintentionally polluting our precious water resources in our "ONE" world and harming water. I felt the same pain.
   
When I moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 1992, I felt like I had found crystal clear waters again in the world! I was fascinated with the aliveness of the water while swimming or canoeing in creeks and lakes (e.g., Wigeon Creek, Alta Lake, and Bowron Lakes). I became interested in visiting water sources (e.g., Cleveland Dam) and walking along the rivers. In Vancouver, I used to walk along the Capilano River from Cleveland Dam to the ocean. The water starts as crystal-clear at Cleveland Dam and stays as is until it reaches the Pacific Ocean. 
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My first journey along a river was in 2012 when Peter suggested that we bicycle along the Danube River - I loved his idea as a water lover! During that trip, I started to question the journey of a river as it interacts with humans. We bicycled 1200 kilometres by the Danube, and I observed the changes that the river experiences on its path from its source to the sea. I saw that the river comes out through the ground pure and clean at its source; brings minerals and life to the surface; flows, collects and carries nutrients while going down to the ocean as part of its life cycle. Meanwhile, I also saw that humans take water and food from the river, utilize rivers for transportation, and build bridges, roads or locks for access as the river continuously flows to the ocean. During its flow, the river meanders through lands that many civilizations have existed on, taking away whatever exists on its way. I wanted to learn more about these changes and what happens to a river during its journey when rivers are an essential part of the community of humans.
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I am now living in Victoria, Canada, where many rivers exist. As I watch clean rivers running down to the ocean, I remember the waters that turned grey, which I had witnessed and my pain of not being able to do anything in the past. This is my second chance to act for water to keep rivers and oceans clean. I want to raise awareness for all water's preciousness, purity, beauty and vital life-giving force.
 
Protecting water resources is part of peace work. We are all born in water and carry water in us. We exist with water, and water exists in us, so we are water. No categories or divisions exist between us when we realize "water" is the life source connecting each one of us. Water is a founding member of our community. It is my desire to speak up and stand for water in our ONE world.