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22nd Annual Convention Program

  1. TRADE AND INVESTMENT FORUM

    8:00 AM, Thursday

    After positive reviews for the Business Forum in Chicago 2009, UNAA is organizing another Business forum again for the Business Community. Plan early and participate.Learn More


  2. POLITICAL FORUM

    9:00 AM, Friday

    UNAA has separated this forum from other convention events and will be given its own time before start of the Convention (Opening Ceremony). Participants will have all day Friday to engage each other from all perspectives.Learn More


  3. MAIN CONVENTION PROGRAM

    6:00 PM, Friday

    From the Opening Ceremony of Friday, all normal Convention Programs shall proceed as usual.Learn More


  4. KEY NOTE

    5:00 PM, Saturday

    Her Royal Highness, the Nnabagereka, Patron of several organizations including the Christian Children's Fund (CCF) Uganda, Special Olympics Uganda, Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), and the Uganda Cancer Research Foundation (UCRF), for which she is also a Founder Member. She is also a Good Will Ambassador for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA)Learn More


  5. ENTERTAINMENT

    Thursday - Friday

    Our guests and delegates will be fully entertained throught out the convention weekend. They will have lots of options regardless of background and tastes.Learn More


  6. MISS UNAA 2010

    Thursday - Sunday

    The program will provide a forum for today's young women to express their viewpoints, talents and accomplishments to various Ugandan and North American audiences across North America.Learn More


  7. THE BOAT

    7:00 PM, Saturday

    The UNAA Board decided that the Boat will leave at 7pm as used to be in the past and it will be a Dinner Event as well.Learn More


  8. D.C ATTRACTIONS

    Whether your family's greatest interests are political, historical, scientific, artistic or social, D.C. will keep you interested and enlightened.Learn More

Posted by: Francis Ssennoga





The History of UNAA according to Dr. Abu Senkayi, Ph. D


History of UNAA

By

Abu Senkayi, Ph. D.

How it all Started in Atlanta, Georgia:

Back in November 1988m in a little suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, called Smyrna, two Ugandan ladies (Becky T. Matovu and Juliet T. Simbwa) initiated something which eventually blossomed into what is now the annual convention of the Ugandan North American Association (UNAA). Since Becky and Juliet had no family in this country to brag about and could not "go home for Thanksgiving turkey", they came up with a brilliant idea. What if they invited any Ugandans they knew and pretended that this was their family away from family and shared the turkey? After tossing the idea around for some time, they shared it with other Atlanta residents and everybody thought it was a neat idea.

A committee, consisting of the two sisters, Mr. Ssali Luwemba, Drs. Frank and Sarah Matovu and Mr. Sam Kiggwe was set up to organize a Thanksgiving weekend party that ended up being a mini-convention with a big dinner, dancing, seminars and lots of people-to-people networking. All together, about 200 people from as far north as Chicago and as far West as Los Angeles attended. Within a short time, this came to be known as the first convention, although the name UNAA was yet to be coined.

Survival in North America:

Because the event in Atlanta had been very successful, attendees from Los Angeles volunteered to organize the 1989 Thanksgiving party. Unfortunately, the organization collapsed and nothing happened that year. Then something really special happened. The folks in Dallas decided to do it. They would
host a TEX-size Thanksgiving weekend Party/Convention for 1990. They sent out several thousand invitations to every known Ugandan in USA and Canada.

The Dallas event attracted about 500 guests, including a delegation from Kampala representing the Uganda government. The Dallas festivities included a cultural evening, a whole day of seminars, tours, a banquet and a ball. This more or less became the model for all future conventions. The name "Ugandan American Community (UAC)" was adopted and a nine-member committee (with David K. Turya Mureeba as Chairman) was elected to draft a constitution. The theme of the Dallas convention/conference was "Survival in North America". The message was that we, the Ugandan/North Americans were here to stay and therefore, we better learn how to play the survival game. A resolution was passed to make this an on-going annual event and Boston and New York were selected as the 1991 and 1992 host cities, respectively.


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