A BRIEF HISTORY ON THE CREATION OF SOBA CANADA
Permit us to quote the first elected President of Soba Canada, Rev. Daniel Mulema, class of 1971.
“In 1990, when we first received invitation to participate at a SOBA USA convention in Atlanta, we had only four Soban’s in Montreal, one in Ottawa and a few others in Toronto. Daunting as the task may have been, those four pioneers in Montreal began talking about creating a Chapter to network and maintain contacts with our brothers down-south. Those were the days before full-fledge internet access, and so the “NetWorker” was created in 1992, championed by Dr. E. Mondoa, as an organ to facilitate networking among Sobans in North America. These were exciting times when one could go through the directory with a fine tooth comb searching for people you had not seen for ages. Needless to say, as a networking tool we became “hooked” and the airwaves were filled with nostalgic exuberance, when you called up someone and chat for hours unending. We extend thanks to pioneer presidents, Soban Quintus Enow and Soban Dr. Nick Enow, (who were in office under Soba –USA), as they in their own way helped steering the ship onward.
So it was that, in 1993 after our numbers slowly mushroomed to eight in Montreal, SOBA Canada was born and registered as a Non-Profit Organization. In 1994 we made our first appearance at the convention in Boston, and protested the idea of SOBA-USA, and argued for a more inclusive, Soba North America, and after some deliberations it was agreed to have the umbrella organization renamed as SOBA America. I am not sure in which of the following conventions this was formalized, because the 1995 Convention in Minnesota still went under the title SOBA-USA. After 2000, our numbers dwindled back to four in Montreal and things seemed to slow down once again, but here you are in 2015 not only as participants but the host of the 25th anniversary of Soba America”
SOBA MONTREAL RELAUNCH
SOBA Montreal was relaunched in September of 2012 and re-registered as SOBA MONTREAL with the Montreal City Council in 2013. This change had be effected to further consolidate our commitment to each other. It has been the hope that by now other Sobans in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa) would have come together under one umbrella organisation. But this has not been the case. Hence, the need for a more unifying and vibrant organisation has been necessitated. More so, the creation of Soba Montreal will give further impetus to our activities and the much deserved recognition of the immediate community we serve. So far we have supported more than 10 associations in cash or in kind for one activity or another. Last month we launched a second fund drive to raise funds to support some of our projects, it was a success. . The result of this as we have seen today was the launching of Soba Ontario last March 2015 making Toronto the second Soba chapter within Canada. In attendance was the President of Soba Montreal with a 7 man delegation to Toronto.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Soba Montreal as we speak is a household name within Canada and within Montreal and its environs, since its relaunch in 2012 we have been cooperating with sister associations in Montreal that carry our fund raising efforts to run projects back home. Cultural groups such as, LECDA, MOMO Elites of Montreal, Kupemuanenguba Fraternity, Manyu Elite Association of Montreal, Good will Association of Montreal, Ndakongnui etc. are all beneficiaries of Soba Montreal donations every year toward projects funded back home by these associations. In 2013 Soba Montreal also donated gifts in Kind worth $300.00 to the Bulu Center for the blind in Buea, Cameroon. As a result of our community involvement Soba Montreal on the other hand gain from the support and participation of these groups in soba affairs, the height of which was seen during the hosting of the last Soba America Convention in Montreal May 2015.