Lee’s Bakery – uNAVSA conference – Atlanta

The uNAVSA conference in Atlanta this past summer was one of the best conferences that I have been to in a while. Well organized, well thought out, and all in all well received. The speakers were inspiring, from the young man who’s life changed forever when his father died when he was 11, forcing him to grow up to eventually become a successful entrepreneur, to the program director at CNN whose grandmother, unbeknown-st to her at the time, was one of the first women to start a newspaper back in Vietnam years ago, and paid dearly for it when the Communists took over. The Vietnamese air force pilot who had to start his life all over again in America, from nothing to now owning the largest Vietnamese media based company in the US and whose daughter makes over $700,000 as a doctor. Follow your passions, pursue your dreams they all tell us.

The organizations throughout the US came together to also join in fundraising for one community based non-profit each year and had to decide between three organizations vying for the spot. The Hue Foundation and the Sunflower Mission were both great contenders and had admirable missions in bettering the society in Vietnam, focusing on school children and the poor. The winner this year however was the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation, which aims to bring together the histories of a people who have no voice even today, who is forgotten in the American history books and steadily losing their stories every day.

This emotional video is more about the VAHF and its goals for your viewing:

http://www.viddler.com/player/4fa54929/

Well, as it is being a Vietnamese students conference, of course there will be Vietnamese food right? And what better lunch item than the Vietnamese submarine sandwich the Banh Mi? From Lee’s Bakery down the street on Buford Highway, these little bad boys were delivered in each lunch time for our meals. They were great, though a bit too much mayo sauce for my tastes, as it can over power the tastes of everything else. But overall they were pretty good.

Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches from Lee’s Bakery

Eat mi! (mi is vietnamese for noodles, sometimes)

Late night Karaoke-ing in Atlanta, actually a tragic place

Late night Karaoke-ing in Atlanta, grilled squid, not so good

Late night Karaoke-ing in Atlanta, actually a tragic place

Some of the handsome men at uNAVSA

University of South Florida Vietnamese Student Association <3 Tasty Chomps
University of South Florida Vietnamese Student Association <3 Tasty Chomps

University of Central Florida Vietnamese American Student Association <3>