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When Rola Hallam arrived in the UK at 13 from Syria, speaking no English and knowing nothing of British culture, she felt like she'd landed on a different planet. Her gynaecologist father had accepted a job at a British hospital, and the whole family relocated, pitching head first into 1980s Cambridgeshire.

"I felt like I was wearing really weird clothes," she remembers. "It was very white middle class." Thrown into an English school, Rola showed her mettle: nailing her GSCEs within two years while also learning English, landing a place at medical school and becoming a consultant doctor with her beloved NHS.

Then five years ago, her life transformed again. This time, the cause was war in her homeland. She watched with horror as Syria collapsed and her phone rang daily with awful news: family members killed - on one occasion, 18 of them in a single day. Family lands gone. A community torn apart. Thousands of miles away as she was, Hallam could not just stand by.

Now she has a second career: indefatigable activist, first hand medical witness to the horrors of the Syrian war, and a leading voice in the Syrian diaspora humanitarian movement as medical director to diaspora aid organisation Hand in Hand for Syria.

Hallam is not alone. As the official response has struggled, the crisis has given birth to a global network of new humanitarians as Syrians on the ground and overseas have come together to find ways to get aid to their beleaguered country. Unorthodox but determined, inexperienced but with a deep knowledge of their country, they've created aid procurement and delivery systems handing everything from food aid to hospital management.

Hallam in a neonatal unit at Atmeh Children's Hospital: 'This is where we look after premature babies and sick newborns' Photograph: Darren Conway

Most, like Hand in Hand for Syria, did not even exist five years ago: an incredible 600 - 700 NGOs have been founded inside and outside Syria since the war started in 2011. Collectively, they manage an estimated 75% of the aid getting into the country. "In many areas, grassroots networks are the sole source of assistance," says a spokesperson for Syria Solidarity UK. "They are well organised, well managed, and they need to be taken seriously," says Eva Svoboda, author of a paper on the Syrian diaspora humanitarian response.

For Hallam, as for many, this path started with the strangeness of watching the violence from afar. A cousin had just become a trustee for Hand in Hand for Syria, founded by Nottingham food factory manager Faddy Sahloul and his wife just a few months previously after they started packing boxes of aid in their front room. Within a few months she was on the ground as a volunteer, trying to deliver aid amid the chaos of war.

"I remember travelling to Atarib, close to the frontline, and I was going to do the first needs assessment for a hospital, but on the way there was a bakery that had been hit by a plane and there were masses of casualties so we had to jump into the first field hospital we saw patients being taken to and I did my medical role. A few hours later we thought hang on, we were supposed to be doing something else. But you can't just leave civilians," says Hallam. On one occasion, she ended up treating teenage survivors of suspected chemical attacks in Aleppo.

Hallam has also had the strange experience of witnessing first hand her country's slide from prosperous homeland to the kind of desperation she'd seen elsewhere when volunteering in East Africa. She remembers visiting the camp at Atmeh - "it reminded me of what I'd seen on the Sudan/Kenyan border. I remember thinking: is this where we are?" And it's not just the dissonance. "There's part of me that gets very angry about the portrayal of Syrians in general, because Syrian and local NGOs have been the mainstay of the humanitarian response."

Fuelled by determination, Hand in Hand for Syria grew astonishingly fast. From that husband and wife team has grown an international, formally registered charity with an administrative HQ in London, an operational HQ in Turkey, over 500 staff - mostly inside Syria - and a turnover of £7m in 2014.

Hallam at Atmeh camp near the Turkish border: "This isn't a job. It's now our life." Photograph: Darren Conway

Of the international humanitarian response, she is scathing - a view born mostly of recent experience. She says she spent months reaching out to INGOs: having no contacts, she says she would literally call up the switchboard. "I was trying to push a lot of the INGOs to partner with us. It's a good concept, but now I think it's a very fundamentally flawed marriage. I used to think it was the big international organisations that go around saving the world. I now know it's the local and national NGOs."

Hand in Hand for Syria does now have relationships with over a dozen international organisation such as Shelterbox, who today provide two-thirds of their funding - but as Hallam says, it's been an uphill battle.

International organisations have certainly struggled with this new phenomenon. Svoboda found that "the formal humanitarian system finds it extremely difficult to establish genuine, inclusive partnerships". Some challenges - the inexperience of new groups in meeting rigorous reporting requirements or measuring impact, for example - are real. But Svoboda says established aid organisations need to adapt. And Hallam is passionate about the particular skills that diaspora groups bring. "We have such a profound appreciation of the cultural, historical, societal context," she says. "And this is our country. This isn't a job. It's now our life. We're doing this for something far greater than any of us, or our organisations."

In tandem with her work in Syria, Hallam still works for the NHS, trading stints on the ground with treating patients at the Royal Free hospital in London. Switching between two worlds, she says, isn't easy. "I remember telling one of my nursing colleagues that I had to go home and pack as I was going to Syria, and she said: have a lovely holiday!"

Nevertheless, she says, Hand in Hand for Syria is here to stay. And for Hallam there's no going back. Any disruption this has caused in her life pales, she says, next to the impact of the conflict. "The impact isn't so much the work, it's the war. The impact is your family being killed, your home being destroyed, the sadness and anger and on-going grieving that surrounds you. The rest is small change in comparison."
Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow@GuardianGDP on Twitter.

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The diaspora groups bringing aid to Syria: 'This isn't a job, it's now our life'

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Inside Syria, 75% of aid is now arriving through local networks supported by diaspora groups. Among the leaders of this new humanitarian wave is British doctor Rola Hallam of Hand in Hand for Syria

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Poem About Syrian Suffering by Amal Kassir

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Palestine was taken by Israel while Native America was stolen by the US.

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They've both lost their lands to invaders.

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Rafeef's poetry slam is about how people disrespect her country while Winona talks about how she was mistreated in a situation because of her race/culture.

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They both talk about something that they've lost and gained at the same time. They've lost their land, but because of that and what people are telling them, they gained pride and confidence in themselves and dealt with the hate that revolved around them.

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Published on

Context for "The Great Vision" chapter of Black Elk Speaks

1. 1. Black Elk Speaks

2. 2. In 1930, John Neihardt, the poet laureate of Nebraska, went to an Indian reservation in South Dakota to do research for a poem he was working on. Neihardt met Black Elk, second cousin to Crazy Horse, and told him he was writing epic poetry - roughly translate into Lakota as "vision telling." Because he feared he would die soon, Black Elk wanted to tell Neihardt his vision so he could relate it to the world. " What I know was given to me for men and it is true and it is beautiful. Soon I shall be under the grass and it will be lost. You were sent to save it, and you must come back so that I can teach you." Background to Novel:

3. 3. The novel covers Black Elk's life from early childhood through the massacre at Wounded Knee. Not only does it tell of his life, it captures the history and culture of the Sioux people (the French name for the Lakota people). If you read the full novel, expect to learn about the customs and traditions from hunting to courting. The Norton Anthology reprinted only one chapter from this twenty-five chapter novel with chapter three being the vision itself. Neihardt returned with his daughters who acted as stenographers, while Black Elk's son, Ben, roughly translated his father's story into English. The resulting book Black Elk Speaks did not receive much attention when it was published in 1932. Only after its reissue in 1961 after Carl Jung referenced the book did it gain prominence. Because it captures so much of the religious culture of the Native Americas, it has been called a "North American bible of all tribes." (DeLoria)

4. 4. Native Americans If all you know about Native Americans came from your high school teacher, you need to do some research on your own. (Overall, I would contend that American History as taught in school is a one-sided, white-washed indoctrination. Lies My Teacher Told Me is a real eye-opener.) While most Americans may think of Thanksgiving, casinos or sports teams (Braves, Chiefs, Seminoles, etc.), they usually don't think of Native Americans as a people. In a long, sad story dating back to Columbus, the indigenous people of this land were decimated by war and disease. If I had 20 minutes and a cup of coffee, I could make the argument that America is guilty of genocide. Since it's beyond the scope of this presentation, I will recommend Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee for those interested in hearing history from a different perspective. (easily the saddest book I've ever read.)

5. 5. Chapter Three: The Great Vision At the age of nine, Black Elk becomes ill and has a vision: - Two men come out of the clouds and tell him, "Come! Your grandfathers are calling you!" - A cloud carries Black Elk into the sky. He is greeted by a horse that tells him he will learn. - Colored horses symbolizing different directions and powers all line up and fill the sky. - A cloud becomes a teepee with a rainbow entrance. - He enters the teepee and meets the six grandfathers who present him with different powers. - One grandfathers presents him with a cup of water (the power to create), another gives him a bow (the power to destroy), another gives him a magical herb (provides peace and understanding), another gives him a peace pipe (the power to heal), another gives him a stick (to guide/shepherd his people), and another gives him an eagle's wing (the power to travel and spread the word). - He recognizes the sixth grandfather as himself - meaning he will be granted these powers on the earth. - After this meeting, he returns to earth to see a blue man who is described as the enemy. - An eagle kills the blue man. He knows this means he will have to kill his enemies. - He is taken to the center of the world. Here he sees the hoop or history of his people. - He has been charged Moses-esque to lead his people because difficult times are coming. - He returns to his body ending his vision and out of body experience.

6. 6. What the hell does it mean? - Some background knowledge is necessary to understand the vision itself and its context. What should be apparent from the highly symbolic language is that this experience is considered sacred, and the translation of the experience into text makes it the equivalent of a Biblical passage. - The images, colors and numbers have significance to the Lakota, but their cosmology and orientation are completely different than Euro-American or Judeo-Christian ideas. - Native Americans are considered pagan in that their worship is earth based. [In any given culture, religion picks up where science leaves off. Science seeks to define, which removes the mystery and awe of a natural phenomenon. For example, it's much more powerful to think of a rainbow as a sign from God instead of just rain drops catching the sunlight.] - These cultures, too quickly labeled "primitive," tend to be superstitious, intuitive and have a cyclical instead of linear view of the world. Instead of a pantheon of gods, they have an animistic view of nature where everything has a spirit (essence). They would seek ways communicate with the spirit world (vision quests, sweat lodges, peyote, etc.) for guidance and guides. - They lived in balance with their environment. They couldn't understand the concept of owning land or viewing the earth as a resource to be exploited.

7. 7. Symbols Blue Man = Enemy. Someone living out of balance with nature or driven by greed and selfishness. Obviously, the white man. ("wasichu" is the Lakota name for the whites which translates as "fat eaters" or "those that take the best part." After the Civil War, black soldiers were sent out West. Their strength and course hair reminded the Native Americans of the buffalo leading some to call them "Buffalo Soldiers.") Grandfathers = Elders The elders represented wisdom. On earth, they led the tribe so it makes sense in the spirit world that they would be seen the same way. Thunder beings = Mystery If you lived a pagan, animistic life, you would worship the things around you that you couldn't explain or that held a power. On the plains, thunder would be one of the most impressive, intimidating and worship-worthy things. Hoop = Circle / Balance Black Elk said that humans should look at a circle as sacred because it demonstrates the connectedness of all things. Not only are most things in nature is round (Earth, Sun, Moon, etc.), the circle can represent different aspects of the whole. See medicine wheel. Center of the World = Heaven An idyllic, Eden-like place where everything lives in harmony. While the cultures and places may change, there are many similarities. The work of Carl Jung addresses archetypes while Joseph Campbell's work focuses specifically on mythology.

8. 8. Medicine Wheel While not specifically mentioned in the excerpt, the medicine wheel serves as way to explain some of the symbolism in Black Elk's vision. The circle represents their view of the world on many levels. It represents "Mother Earth" by representing the directions and elements. By showing aspects of the whole, it represents the interconnectedness of all things. [Western thinking tends to classify and separate] In fact, the reason this is called a medicine wheel is because illness is viewed as being out of balance. Shaman's (witch doctors) try holistic approaches to restore balance and thus cure the individual. 4 basic directions: North, South, East, West. Up, down and within are the other 3 directions. East is yellow for the sunrise and represents the element of fire. North is white for the snows and represents the cold winds or the element of air. West is black for the sunset (night) and represents the element of earth (also physically in the form of the Rocky Mountains). South is red and represents the element of water.

9. 9. Mandala is Sanskrit for circle. It is often illustrated as a palace with four gates, facing the four corners of the Earth. (notice the colors) The yin and yang is also a representation of conflict and balance. Connections Much time could be spent on the similarities that exist between cultures in terms of their understanding of the world. Briefly, here are two images you may recognize.

10. 10. Later in the novel, Black Elk says that after the massacre at Wounded Knee, the circle was broken. The Native American people were out of balance. [In reality, they had long been out of balance. Guns, horses and whisky found many warriors leaving their traditional way of life.] Spirituality was forgotten or denied. No longer able to live their traditional ways, many turned to alcohol which continues to plague their communities. Today's reservations have the highest unemployment, poverty and alcoholism rates in the US. Casinos do bring in money, but that money is not shared with other tribes. The casinos don't always help the community with gambling addiction and alcoholism common.

11. 11. Studying Native American culture and history will provide you with an alternative view of America. It will challenge the conventional versions of what you know. For the most part, Western expansion is glorified and justified by the idea of manifest destiny (the idea that God wanted Americans to control the land from sea to shining sea). The red man was portrayed as a savage and un-Christian and standing in the way of progress (and profit). Don't just believe what I am telling you, do your own research. If nothing else, you should disabuse yourself of the mistruths that you've been told. This process begs the question: if they lied to me about this, what else have they lied about?

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Published on Context for "The Great Vision" chapter of Black Elk Speaks 1. Black Elk Speaks 2. In 1930, John Neihardt, the poet laureate of Nebraska, went to an Indian reservation in South Dakota to do research for a poem he was working on.

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The Birth of Israel (BBC, 2008) (english, portuguese)

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How the US stole the lands of Native Americans

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A new interactive map from the science and humanities magazine Aeon tells a vital story that Americans tend to conveniently forget: this land was not our land. Hit "play," and you'll see every cession of land from native peoples between 1784 and today. From the birth of our country to today, we seized 1.5 billion acres of native land.

"As late as 1750-some 150 years after Britain established Jamestown and fully 250 years after Europeans first set foot in the continent-[Native Americans] constituted a majority of the population in North America, a fact not adequately reflected in textbooks," Claudio Saunt writes in an accompanying article. "Even a century later, in 1850, they still retained formal possession of much of the western half of the continent."

With Saunt's map, you can watch the shift occur. Each part is clickable, with information on the treaties that were used to negotiate cessions available via links in pop-up boxes. You can also search for a location or any Native American nation, such as Cherokee or Sioux, to see the land they once possessed. Color coding distinguishes between native lands (blue) and reservations (orange). The latter have dwindled significantly since their creation.

Saunt's article is a sobering explanation of the nefarious methods the United States used to seize land. Since most land was "ceded" using treaties, it may appear that Native Americans gave up their land willingly and peacefully, but in many cases they had no other options and handed over the land though bribery or force. The government also used federal legislation and executive order to take land from natives. In the 19th century, presidents like Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Grover Cleveland created small reservations for tribes that once controlled vast areas. The Invasion of America is a stark demonstration of how quickly these legal fictions were used to erase people, and just how much what was once their land we now claim as our own.

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Watch How The U.S. Stole Land From Native Americans

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A new interactive map from the science and humanities magazine Aeon tells a vital story that Americans tend to conveniently forget: this land was not our land. Hit "play," and you'll see every cession of land from native peoples between 1784 and today.

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Interactive World History Atlas since 3000 BC Follow us World History Maps & Timelines. Kingdoms, Battles, Expeditions. Comparative History, Political, Military, Art, Science, Literature, Religion, Philosophy. Maps based on vector database. Advertise

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Mistreating Palestinians

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Rafeef Ziadah - 'We teach life, sir', London, 12.11.11

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When Israel invaded Palestine

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Disrespecting a woman because of her culture/country

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Disrespecting a woman because of her culture/country

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Objective

Identify and compare the ideas of major Native American leaders from the nineteenth century.

Evaluate the impact of those ideas on the United States and Native Americans.

Locate the original and final reservation territory for each of the Native American tribal groups represented in the excerpts.

Materials

Documents

(Shawnee) Chief Tecumseh, "Address to General William Henry Harrison in the Vincennes in the Indian Territory," 1810, Digital History

(Sauk) Black Hawk's "Surrender Speech," Mt. Holyoke College

(Apache) Geronimo Quotations, IndigenousPeople.net

(Oglala Sioux) Crazy Horse, "Last Words to Agent Lee," FrontierTrails.com

(Nez Perce) "Chief Joseph Speaks: Selected Statements and Speeches," PBS

(Hunkpapa Teton Sioux) Sitting Bull, "Behold, My brothers," OpenCourtResources.com

Native American Quotations is a great source for students with reading problems

Handouts

Lesson Activities

Assign students to:

1. Analyze the views of the Native American leaders featured in the excerpts and complete the chart by indicating these leaders' views on the topics listed.

2. Research, using the Internet and library, one of the American Indian leaders and write two obituaries, one from a Native American perspective and one from a white man's perspective as they might have been written shortly after the death of the leader.

3. Research the approximate location of the original tribal territory of each tribe represented and the reservation territory available to the tribe by 1890. Locate these on the United States map.

4. Answer discussion questions:

List and explain the similarities and differences you see regarding the Native American leaders' needs and desires.

Describe the differences between the American Indian leaders' views and the views of the various white men they encountered throughout the nineteenth century.

To what extent was the treatment received by Native Americans an inevitable result of exploration and expansion?

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nineteenth-century native american viewpoints | objective identify and compare the ideas of major native american leaders from the nineteenth century. evaluate the impact of those ideas on the united states and native americans. locate the original and final reservation territory for each of the native american tribal groups represented in the excerpts. materials documents | objective identify and compare the ideas of major native american leaders from the nineteenth century. evaluate the impact of those ideas on the united states and native americans. locate the original and final reservation territory for each of the native american tribal groups represented in the excerpts. materials documents (shawnee) chief tecumseh

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"address to general william henry harrison in the vincennes in the indian territory

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digital history (sauk) black hawk’s "surrender speech

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" mt. holyoke college (apache) geronimo quotations

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indigenouspeople.net (oglala sioux) crazy horse

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" frontiertrails.com (nez perce) "chief joseph speaks: selected statements and speeches

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" pbs (hunkpapa teton sioux) sitting bull

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" opencourtresources.com native american quotations is a great source for students with reading problems handouts     speech excerpts (pdf) analysis chart (pdf) united states map (from class text or any large classroom map) lesson activities assign students to: analyze the views of the native american leaders featured in the excerpts and complete the chart by indicating these leaders’ views on the topics listed. research

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one of the american indian leaders and write two obituaries

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one from a native american perspective and one from a white man’s perspective as they might have been written shortly after the death of the leader. research the approximate location of the original tribal territory of each tribe represented and the reservation territory available to the tribe by 1890. locate these on the united states map. answer discussion questions: list and explain the similarities and differences you see regarding the native american leaders’ needs and desires. describe the differences between the american indian leaders’ views and the views of the various white men they encountered throughout the nineteenth century. to what extent was the treatment received by native americans an inevitable result of exploration and expansion?

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Nineteenth-Century Native American Viewpoints | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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Nineteenth-Century Native American Viewpoints | Objective Identify and compare the ideas of major Native American leaders from the nineteenth century. Evaluate the impact of those ideas on the United States and Native Americans. Locate the original and final reservation territory for each of the Native American tribal groups represented in the excerpts. Materials Documents | Objective Identify and compare the ideas of major Native American leaders from the nineteenth century. Evaluate the impact of those ideas on the United States and Native Americans. Locate the original and final reservation territory for each of the Native American tribal groups represented in the excerpts. Materials Documents (Shawnee) Chief Tecumseh, “Address to General William Henry Harrison in the Vincennes in the Indian Territory,” 1810, Digital History (Sauk) Black Hawk’s “Surrender Speech,” Mt. Holyoke College (Apache) Geronimo Quotations, IndigenousPeople.net (Oglala Sioux) Crazy Horse, “Last Words to Agent Lee,” FrontierTrails.com (Nez Perce) “Chief Joseph Speaks: Selected Statements and Speeches,” PBS (Hunkpapa Teton Sioux) Sitting Bull, “Behold, My brothers,” OpenCourtResources.com Native American Quotations is a great source for students with reading problems Handouts Speech Excerpts (PDF) Analysis Chart (PDF) United States map (from class text or any large classroom map) Lesson Activities Assign students to: Analyze the views of the Native American leaders featured in the excerpts and complete the chart by indicating these leaders’ views on the topics listed. Research, using the Internet and library, one of the American Indian leaders and write two obituaries, one from a Native American perspective and one from a white man’s perspective as they might have been written shortly after the death of the leader. Research the approximate location of the original tribal territory of each tribe represented and the reservation territory available to the tribe by 1890. Locate these on the United States map. Answer discussion questions: List and explain the similarities and differences you see regarding the Native American leaders’ needs and desires. Describe the differences between the American Indian leaders’ views and the views of the various white men they encountered throughout the nineteenth century. To what extent was the treatment received by Native Americans an inevitable result of exploration and expansion?