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.
