Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2011 — INFUSING A HAWAIIAN SENSIBILITY INTO APEC [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INFUSING A HAWAIIAN SENSIBILITY INTO APEC

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By Lynn Cook 1^^™ rom Day One, Corbett Kalama understood the magnitude of his duty to bring Hawaiian culture and values into his role as Chair of the host committee's Hawaiian Culture Committee for the APEC summit. "Hawai'i is filled with cultural treasures. That culture is an intrinsic part of who we are," says Kalama, a First Hawaiian Bank Vice President and Kamehameha Schools Trustee. "From the start of the APEC planning, our intent and our outreach effort has been to exemplify the strength and consistency of our culture in a forthright way, offering our commitment to our culture to the broad, worldwide community." With President Obama's selection of Hawai'i for the Asia-Pacific Eeonomie Cooperation summit, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustees saw a onee-in-a-lifetime opportunity to promote on a global scale the accurate sharing of information about Native Hawaiians, from cultural protocol and Hawaiian language to Hawaiian history and culture. Trustees followed their mission and strategic priorities and focused $250,000 in funding for APEC to ensure that its 20,000 attendees - from heads of state to mulhnahonal CEOs - and those watching media coverage around the world truly experience Hawaiian culture from those who know it best. "OHA is proud to be a co-host to leaders of more than 20 Asia-Pacific member economies that account for half of the world's economies," said OHA Chairperson Colette Machado, who is a member of the APEC 2011 Hawai'i Host Committee. "We are optimistic and hopeful about our expectations of its cultural benefits. It's our hope that this opportunity will provide us with an international stage to bring global attention to the rich history and culture of Native Hawaiian people, depicted accurately and genuinely. "We are extremely excited about the role OHA is playing to promote understanding of the Hawaiian culture and values that have guided our ancestors j and continue to define us as people today."

OHA pooled its fina the Hawai'i Tourism P training to thousands partnership with the f Association. OHA fund Hawaiian community 1 involved in APEC. Kalama says that fr Native Hawaiian Hosp knew the cultural train "They had both humili were already planning process of reaching the concepts of training ut said. Mike McCartney, 1 President and a mei Host Committee, sees opportunity to really gi Hawai'i has evolved as destination, able to suc level of meetings. With more than 20 and trainers certified tc completing Hawaiian "We have made oursc McCartney says. "For i posted in every hotel lol to assist, answer questic not only delegates but i well." McCartney says th; persist beyond the f benefits for years to c( awareness will continu he said. "It will be ins going forward into the : 'A DEEPER UNDE IN BEING HAWAIIA As the lead agem hospitality training for ' a team of experts to

Far Left, Corbett Kalama, right, and Mike McCartney, who is wearing the APEC aloha shirt designed by Tori Richard that volunteers will wear. - Photo: John De Mello. Top from left, at a cultural training class at the Hawai'i Convention Center, volunteers work to put yellow cards describing historical Hawaiian events in chronological order. - Photo: tynn Cook. Leaders from Hawai'i and Washington, D.C., gathered at Mauna 'Ala in August to set the proper spirit and tone for the APEC summit. - Photo: Niek Masagatani. McCartney briefed a group of state lawmakers and their aides about the cultural-training program for APEC. The two women at left, April Guice and Christine Hathaway are U.S. State Department protocol experts from Washington, D.C., who shared information on how to greet and interact with dignitaries. - Photo: tynn Cook

neial resources with that of .uthority to provide cultural of volunteers through a Tative Hawaiian Hospitality s also support outreach to the or those interested in being 3m the moment he met the itality Association team, he ing mission would succeed. ty and confidence, and they how they could facilitate the broader community with the ilizing Hawaiian values," he lawai'i Tourism Authority nber of the APEC 2011 this summit as the golden ve weight to the promise that a true international meeting :cessfully attract the highest expert cultural consultants i teach and 2,000 volunteers cultural awareness training, lves better for the future," K.PEC, the volunteers will be ?by and meeting plaee, ready ms and share their aloha with he hotel staff and visitors as it the APEC training will lovember summit, reaping >me. Ongoing "training and s to be an asset to Hawai'i," aired by the APEC training, :uture." RSTANDING AND PRIDE N' ;y providing cultural and rolunteers, NaHAA gathered create the curriculum. The

materials include the Ho 'okipa Train bigforHawai'i 's Hosts: Learner's Guide, created by Kapi'olani Community College and Outrigger Hotels Hawai'i, and the Cultural Training guide, written by Hi'ilani Shibata, Operations Manager of the Bishop Museum Education Department. In addition to putting 1,000 hours into the APEC curriculum development, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Manager of Cultural Experiences Kaipo Ho, and Pila Hanson, Manager of Organizational Development and Intemal Communications, have directed 4,000 hours of internal training programs for Outrigger employees. Dr. Richard Kelley, Chairman Emeritus of Outrigger Enterprises Group, calls APEC a "onee in a lifetime opportunity" to demonstrate and showcase ho'okipa, Hawaiian hospitality, to the world. He says that involvement in the development and implementation of a meaningful hospitality program speaks to Outrigger's corporate structure, "fromhow we treat our guests to how we treat one another, both are shaped by Native Hawaiian culture and values." The training curriculum together with the Hawaiian Cultural Experiences and Activities Guide, detailing sites and cultural experiences on every island, have received rave reviews from volunteers. The Cultural Training guide was described by a young woman employee of a tour company as the knowledge equivalent of a "mini degree in Hawaiian hospitality training." She commented that she didn't attend the University of Hawai'i School of Travel Industry Management but felt that the training provided the "best possible start on understanding hospitality." She said she learned that sharing aloha had "the power to make a person's day." Enthusiasm spills from the classroom as students share their amazement at what they've learned at an afternoon session taught by Shibata at the Hawai'i Convention Center. Locals as well as newbies to Hawai'i made up the class of UH and KCC students, tour company employees and HTA staff. A student from 'Aiea said, "Sharing our culture with visitors is one of the

joys of living in Hawai'i." A UH TIM student from Boston thought she would never feel "un-included" again. With the help of a visual aid projected onto a big screen, the students leamed how to pronounce Hawaiian vowels and practiced the long "a" sound in Kalākaua. The student from Boston praised Shibata for making everyone feel welcomed. "I learned how to greet people and to give my name when someone asks, " 'O wai kou inoa?" She said she also learned about Pele, the demigod Maui and why 'ōlelo Hawai'i is woven into the fiber of Hawai'i. "Most important," she said, "is to know our kuleana, our responsibility, for APEC." And, the best part of her training experience? "I have the words to Hawai'i Aloha, and I am going to really leam to sing it!" Cultural trainer Kainoa Horcajo shared an uplifting story that speaks to the indirect benefits of the training. "During my trainings at the airport with Maui's TSA and DOT people eame up to me and said how the training affected them in ways they couldn't explain," he said, referring to the Transportation Security Administration and Department of Transportation. "A young Hawaiian man, a TSA officer, approached me three days after he sat through one of the training sessions. He had eome in, like everyone, not knowing what to expect from the training. I remember him because he has Hawaiian kākau (tattoo) on his upper arms and a very good spirit. He commented that the class made him think about things he hadn't considered before. All his life he identified with being Hawaiian but never got involved in Hawaiian issues because of the divisiveness he perceived in the media. He told me that this training - and the thoughts it raised in him afterwards, were the first times he felt a deeper understanding and pride in being Hawaiian." ALOHA IS THE KEY TO PEACE Will APEC be Waikīkī's largest gathering ever? "Well, no," McCartney says, "Waikīkī has successfully hosted 30,000 bankers, dentists and

other professional conventions of every size and shape. But this is the first event with 12,000 to 15,000 high-level leaders from across the Paeihe and 2,500 members of the international press, all led by a U.S. President." APEC's 21 member economies represent 41 percent of the world's population, 54 percent of the world's production and 44 percent of global trade. For the past two years Hawai'i has been preparing for the first APEC meeting to be held in the U.S. in 20 years and the very first such meeting ever held in the Hawaiian Islands. The large number of international press may be one of the most important facts for Hawai'i's visitor industry. On assignment to report on APEC, top journalists will be looking for other Hawai'i stories to cover beyond the summit. McCartney says that those on the frontline need to be aware that every experience the media has ean be reflected in future Hawai'i stories. By mid-November early outcomes and, hopefully, glowing worldwide reports will reflect the success of holding such an important gathering in a destination that embraces diversity and welcomes the world with a gentle and sincere "aloha." Many press and delegates may be visiting the Islands for the first time. Some may never visit the U.S. mainland. This will be their only brush with America. It is an opportunity for the Hawaiian culture to shine and for Hawai'i's visitor industry professionals to make a worldwide, lasting impression. McCartney, summing up the essence of what Hawai'i has to offer on this global stage and beyond, quotes Hawai'i's treasured kupuna, the late Aunty Pilahi Paki, "The world will turn to Hawai'i as they search for world peaee because Hawai'i has the key ... and that key is aloha!" ■ Lynn Cook is a loeal freelance journalist sharing the arts and culture of Hawai'i with a global audience.