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THE COUNCIL OF EWE ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA
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A Short History By Gordon Sabblah. |
The beginning of the Council of Ewe Associations of North
America (CEANA), could be traced back to a meeting held
at the Howard University Hotel, Washington, D.C. on
September 3rd, 1994. Four Ewe associations
were present at the meeting, namely the Ewe Association
of Georgia (Atlanta), Milenovisi Haborbor (Chicago),
United Volta Association (New York), Volta Club
(Washington, D.C.). The association were represented by
the following delegates:
Atlanta Mr. Christian Adedze
and Rev. Johnny Akoto.
Chicago Togbe Wenya I
and Mr. Clement Timpo.
New York Togbe
Tsai I and Mr. Julius Cobblah.
Washington D.C. Mr.
William Ayenson and Mr. David Aku
The purpose of the gathering was to study the possibility
of bringing all the Ewe associations, in North America
under one umbrella. Mr. Ayenson, the chairman, for the
occasion narrated a history of previous attempts at
forming an Ewe organization, which could embrace all Ewe
associations in the United States . He noted that in
July of 1984, in search of this dream, two associations,
the Ewe United Club of New York and the Volta Club of
Washington, D.C. came together to form the UNITED
VOLTA ORGANIZATION (UVO). It was hoped that the UVO
would become the core organization, around which other
Ewe associations could aggregate. The stated goals of
UVO were to
I -
Bring together or unite all Ewe associations or
organizations in the United States under one umbrella.
II -
Promote and assist in the Socio-Economic and Cultural
development of our homeland Eweland: Volta Region, Togo
and Benin.
The first chairman of UVO went to Mr. Charles Asembri, then
chairman of the Ewe Unity Club. Mr. Eric Azuma was
elected the general secretary. The UVO operated
successfully for a while, during which time it was able
to acquire and ship large quantities of needed medicines
to hospitals in the Volta Region. But due to lack of
communications between the leaders, the UVO became
inactive and practically non-existent.
With the experience of the UVO in mind, the meeting of July
1994, was called, specifically, to determine whether to
reactivate the UVO or form another organization. At the
meeting, an agreement was reached to the effect that an
umbrella organization was needed, however, no decision
was taken as to creating a new organization or reviving
the UVO. A central committee was formed and charged with
the responsibility of writing a new constitution and
deciding on essential issues. A follow-up meeting was
planned to be held in Chicago the following year, 1995.
The Second meeting of the group was held in Chicago,
September 2-3, 1995. Seven Ewe associations were
represented, namely: Milenovisi Haborbor (Chicago),
Volta Club (Washington), United Volta Association (New
York), Ewe Association of Georgia (Atlanta), Ewe
Association of Southern California (Los Angeles),
Ewe-Canadian Cultural Organization of Ontario (ECCOO)
and Ewe Association of Houston.
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