Unbounded Stories

Eleyan Sawafta

Part of Unbounded Stories: Stories That Heal Us, this conversation shares reflections from Palestine, connecting lived experiences with Canadian communities.
Today, we speak with Eleyan Sawaft, a Ph.D. student in Canada whose family is in Tubas, West Bank. Listen beyond headlines, into the human story.
Questions:
How do you stay emotionally connected to home from afar?
What small moment from home stays with you?
@sadaa.echoes

Kaitlin Khubyar

Kaitlin Khubyar is an abolitionist educator committed to living decolonization as a daily practice, with my work rooted in anti-racism and human rights. They think and teach through Deleuzian theory, especially the ways fascism does not only govern nations, but lives quietly within us. Kaitlin is deeply shaped by hip-hop as pedagogy, by culturally responsive teaching, and by restorative and transformative justice as pathways back to one another. I work land-based, understanding land not as resource, but as teacher. I am an author, a public speaker, and a mutual aid organizer, guided always by a devotion to humanity, dignity, love, and respect.

Allyson Fedak and Monique Burke

Allyson Fedak and Monique Burke joined Dr Izzeddin Hawamda of SADAA hosted session where stories flowed through herbs and spices, carrying with them the scents of land, memory, and care. Together, we explored how each seed and leaf holds unbounded stories of home, resilience, and community. This conversation reminded us that spices are more than ingredients; they are keepers of tradition, healing, and belonging.

Leah Gazan

Leah Gazan needs no introduction, a community steward, educator, human rights advocate, and social justice warrior. Leah joins us today to talk about the power of stories in shaping identity, the connection to the land, and power, and how we must hold on to our humanity as an act of resistance in times of dispossession.

Jordan Bighorn

Dr. Izzeddin Hawamda connects with Jordan Bighorn, Director of Indigenous Excellence in Education (Government of Manitoba), centred on the power of storytelling in Indigenous communities and how stories are essential to healing. SADAA is a storytelling space rooted in listening, memory, and relationship. Through Unbounded Stories, we gather voices across lands and communities to explore how stories shape who we are, how we learn, and how we live together. In Indigenous worlds, stories are not simply narratives—they are teachings, living archives, and ways of knowing. They carry land-based knowledge, responsibility, and collective memory, and they play a vital role in education, community work, and cultural continuity.

Bob Christmas

Bob Christmas is the Community Safety Team lead for the City of Winnipeg. In December 2025, he sat down with Dr Izzy Hawamda for a powerful conversation on how stories can heal our communities. This conversation ins a reflection on the role of storytelling in restoring trust, affirming dignity, and centering our shared humanity. 

Humaira Jaleel

Humaira Jaleel, lawyer, human rights advocate, and founder of Healthy Muslim Families joined Dr Izzeddin Hawamda to talk about her story, passion and drive to connect displaced people to the justice that often eludes them.

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This discussion centres migration, food as a tool for connection, and the power of storytelling in supporting young people. 

Karen Ridd

Karen Ridd is a mediator, facilitator, teacher, and public speaker who began working as a practitioner in the field of conflict resolution in 1986. In the 1980s Karen worked as a human rights volunteer in war zones in Central America with Peace Brigades International. Her work there was recognized with the 1992 Governor-General's Award: Government of Canada 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation Medal, the 1990 Canada YM/YWCA Canada Peace Medal and the 1989 Manitoba International Human Rights Achievement Award. Karen joins us today to reflect on how stories humanize us, and help is to connect with the humanity in others.