He Alo Ahe Alo
by Puanani Burgess
He alo a he alo,
(Face to face),
That’s how you learn about what makes us weep.He alo a he alo,
(Face to face)
That’s how you learn about what makes us feel.
What makes us work.
What makes us sing.
What makes us bitter.
What makes us fight.
What makes us laugh.
What makes us heal.
What makes us stand against the wind.
What makes us sit in the flow of power,
What makes us, us.Not from a distance,
Not from miles away,
Not from a book,
Not from an article you read;
Not from the newspaper,Not from what somebody told you,
Not from “a reliable source”)
Not from what you think,
Not from a cliff,
Not from a cave,
Not from your reality,
Not from your darkness,
Nor from your light.But,
He alo a he alo,
(Face to Face),Or else,
Pa’a kou waha (Shut tight your mouth)‘A’ohe o kahi nana o luna o ka pali;
Iho mai a lalo nei;
‘ike I ke au nui ke au iki;
He alo a he alo.(The top of the cliff isn’t the place to look at us;
Come down here and learn of the big and little current,
Face to Face)And come and help us dig, the lo’i, deep.
Dreamt and written down a long time ago by Puanani Burgess
Nikkoh and I stared hard across the room, each deeply considering the other, trying to read one another’s minds. “Is this ok with you?” we asked, wordlessly. Then we spoke, advocating for each other, explaining our intent, how we carefully chose phrasing in our small group work to make room for both sides. “Ok, our facilitator said. “As long as you’re good with it, it works.” I felt relieved. He had been questioning us hard to get to the essence of what we meant, and then have it fit all together soundly.
I came to the Philippines last week for something long overdue— to work on a unified communication method for the work of both of our offices, Hawai‘I and the Philippines. We are separated by the great Moananuiakea but also by deeply different contexts; we are united by the guidance of our founder and our collective commitment and values. On some level, we’ve known that we approach our work similarly—put partners first, support as much as can, focus on those who need the most, show up with food and technical assistance whenever possible. All this synergy despite being so far away, despite our many differences.
The opportunity to sit together and come to one framework, even if to create something as seemingly mundane or western as a Theory of Change, was awesome. I’m hoping to have more opportunities to get to know my thoughtful and dedicated colleagues over here more, and learn from them. I don’t take it for granted. In the past, folks here in the Philippines had a harder time understanding how we approach our work in Hawai‘i, the deep cultural focus as a means of achieving wellbeing and prevention. But we are getting closer to each other over time. We are digging a sort of deep lo‘i together, as we reflect on our work and commitment to our communities and the people we serve. They are evolving from more of a treatment model steeped a paradigm of saving children towards a more upstream prevention approach. It’s so interesting to witness their evolution, led by a young a determined staff and their thoughtful, dedicated leaders. I love learning from and with them.
Once it was all done, and the work day over, some of us went out for coffee and to celebrate and scheme and dream all the things we can do together. Maybe more dreams than anything; we are constrained by budgets and distance and time, constrained by our own busy-ness. We went to this hip coffee place in Ayala Triangle, this whole area of the city developed by the ancestors of my work’s founder. Doreen had a taho latte, a latte of soft tofu with sweet syrup and espresso. We talked and gossiped and did what coworkers do. We planned for the weekend. I asked everyone how long their commute is to work—up to two hours for some. It’s funny—the closer people live to the office, the longer the commute, due to the snarl of traffic in Manila’s inner core.
It’s Art Week here, and we were fortunate enough to have the weekend to go see some amazing art. A gallery crawl. A large 5-story Artfair exhibit conglomerate that felt like someone set up a modern museum in part of an unused mall. Art and galleries from this country and Asia as well. Folks (not us) purchasing art for their private collections. We had fun, we are tired!
It strikes me that the opportunity to get out of your world helps you see things differently. In the continuing theme of the whole story, there’s always more and ever more to dimensionalize the whole story when you approach from a global context. I appreciate the ability to see the world, and my world, from another perspective and integrate it in ways that improves my work and appreciate for my life back home. And when I go home, I’ll be happy to be back with familiar mountains, ocean, green and blue, to reintegrate it all.
I hear there’s storm weather back home. Hope everyone stays safe! What is stretching the bounds of your reality these days? Did your team win the Super Bowl? I think it was team Benito who won…team Bad Bunny. What kind of fun and joy are you getting up to?
Aloha nui,
Dawn
Artfair, Philippines. 2/9/26.