Saturday Briefing

By Donna Leong — This is the sixth in a series of eight articles written by Outrigger’s executives in support of our Value of the Week program. Every other week, one of our company’s executives will introduce the value of the week and share what that value means to them. This week’s author is Donna Leong, Sr. VP and Chief Legal Officer, and this week’s Value of the Week is: Wahi (Place) – We protect, care for and live in harmony with the land, our workplace, it’s peoples and cultures. – Ka‘ipo Ho

I have only five weekend days remaining to clean my house before my daughter and I host a bridalshower for my daughter’s best friend from early childhood. There will be about 25 women, most of whom I’ve never met, coming to my house. In the midst of the dusting and the wiping and the redistribution of clutter, it occurred to me that cleaning one’s house is very much related to the Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a value of Wahi or Place. You may wonder why and, like all good puzzles, the answer is at the end of this article.

Donna Leong

I asked Ka‘ipo Ho for historical information about Wahi and searched the Web to better understand the concept of “Place.” Ka‘ipo shared a writing by the late Dr. George Kanahele titled, “Ho‘okipa: A Sense of Place,” and I found many, widely different descriptions of “Place” on the Web. It’s not an easily defined concept—some of the writings seemed so obscure that, even after re-reading them, I couldn’t understand them. It’s possible that defining or experiencing “Place” is highly personal, so this article is my personal perspective of Wahi or Place. The articles with the most resonance for me were Dr. Kanahele’s article and a publication by The Project for Public Spaces (PPS), a non-profit organization whose mission is to “act as the central hub of the global Placemaking movement.” Although written from very different perspectives, the ultimate lesson from both sources is similar.

After defining “hospitality” as “to welcome and entertain a guest or stranger with warmth and generosity,” Dr. Kanahele explained its three basic and essential elements as being the inseparable interaction between (1) the place or wahi, (2) the host or mea ho‘okipa, and (3) the guest or malihini. The place, he taught, is “located experience,” meaning that it is a container or calabash of experiences, and there are two ways to make a place special: people can bring their own ideas and feelings about a place with them, or they can come to a place and feel the energy or spirit coming from the place itself. Hawaiians call this energy or spirit “mana.”

Dr. Kanahele’s writings continue to provide guidance to the Outrigger ‘ohana through Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a. He has taught us that, as hosts, we can share stories with our guests about the Place, we can show guests by our actions that we care for the Place, and we can let our good thoughts and feelings — our mana and aloha — flow to and embrace our guests.

The Project for Public Spaces focuses on “Placemaking,” or the creation of vital places. Its website is at www.pps.org. describes “Placemaking” as having four key attributes that are primarily associated with the planning of physical spaces: Sociability; Uses and Activities; Comfort & Image; Access and Linkages. Stated in my words: Placemaking is the making of a comfortable, safe, and attractive gathering place where experiences create memories.

The PPS explains that the ultimate goal of a great place is to evoke positive – or perhaps strong feelings - from those involved. Great places, according to the PPS, cannot be measured simply by physical attributes – it identifies many intangible qualities associated with those attributes: inviting, safe, attractive, comfortable, charming, fun, special, and celebratory, to name a few. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Dr. Kanahele teaches us, as hosts, to make a place special through good thoughts and feelings — mana and aloha — and the PPS similarly teaches us that the ultimate goal of a great place is to evoke positive feelings.

Which leads back to my house cleaning. My family and I will be welcoming guests from New Jersey, California, and India, many of whom have never visited Hawai‘i. As host or mea ho‘okipa, I want to create a wahi (our home) they will enjoy—a Place that is inviting, safe, attractive, comfortable, charming, fun, special, celebratory, and, yes, clean. One of my best friends says his goal when planning vacations with his ‘ohana is to create wonderful experiences and great memories. And that is my goal for the guests and the bride-to-be.

The Ke ‘Ano Wa‘a value of Wahi (Place) –  working together to make our land and our Outrigger and OHANA hotels, wherever located, special places through mana and aloha.