As a young man growing up, Sowande was always involved in community related activities and always had an inner calling to make a difference and finding solutions to the many issues that are affecting his community.

The young Virgin Islander, who is well known for taking strong stances on issues related to the community without fear of victimization or discrimination, said it was after he left the Virgin Islands to pursue tertiary education in the United States that he became more politically, socially, and culturally conscious following his involvement with various progressive organizations.

Sowande started out at the Enid Scatliffe Pre-Primary School, then proceeded on to the Althea Scattliffe Primary School, and completed the final year of his primary education at the Emmanuel Benjamin Oliver Elementary School in St. Thomas before returning to the territory to his complete his secondary education at the then BVI High School.

He graduated in 1996 and took up his first job as a Stage One and art teacher at the Enis Adams Primary.

Before leaving the Virgin Islands for overseas studies and a move that would change his perspective of life, Sowande was intimately involved in striving to address community issues and appeared on a television programme for the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College called SLAM where he was sometimes the host of the programme that spoke out about community ills.

He also played volleyball and basketball, was part of a local boys’ choir called the Acapella Fellas, and was very active in both the Methodist and Road Town Baptist churches.

It was in 1997 that he left for Clark Atlanta University where he obtained his Bachelors of Arts in English in 2001. During his time in Atlanta, he became involved in a cultural organization called Ndugu/Nzinga, an African rites of passage organization which broadened his perspective on life and educated him about his African Heritage.

It was from that organization that he inherited his African name Sowande (meaning the wise healer came looking for him)  Eyi’di’yi’ye (they set the standard this time).

“The group made a huge impact on my cultural perspective, broadened my world view, and emphasized the progressive principles by which I should live my life. They assisted me greatly,” said the young Virgin Islander as he sat in the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park, renamed after his role model, the late Noel Lloyd.

However, he said from his experience there, one thing was lacking, that is finding solutions to address the economic and social ills that plagued the Atlanta community.  And it was at that juncture of his life, that the Young Virgin Islander pursued his quest for greater knowledge and understanding of world politics and its influence on black people.

“Being in Atlanta, I saw a lot of poverty and a lot of homeless people, and I wanted to be a part of something that would address some of those issues. And that led me to investigate historical facts related to black people’s economic and social situation; I really hungered for an explanation as to why black people all over the world were in the political, social and economic  condition that they were in,” Sowande revealed.

With an inquiring mind and the vision to become an educated black man, the poet and member of the Callaloo Poets, went on to complete his Masters in Literary Studies, obtained from the Purdue University, of Indiana in 2003.

During his studies to obtain his Bachelors and Masters Degree, Sowande started to read books about Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and other famous black political figures among other books.

His quest for understanding and addressing the ills affecting black people was further heightened when he went on to pursue his PhD studies which he started in 2003 at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. He is currently finishing his dissertation for his PhD.

In London, he joined an organization called “Uhuru Movement”, which is one reason for adopting his second African name Uhuru (meaning freedom); the other being a tribute to the great Ras Uhuru.

Uhuru is a movement that is focused on the political, economic and social upliftment of black people all over the world, and it was from that Movement that the Virgin Islander got his answers to many of his questions and became actively involved in rallies, protest and other calls for justice for black people in various arenas in London.

“In that group I would say I learnt a lot about why the world is the way it is.  All the questions I had about why black people were in the condition they were inwas answered with my involvement. I started making political speeches, wrote in the political newspaper the “Burning Spear”, led marches concerning issues such as persons getting killed wrongfully by the police. I was right in the thick of issues concerning young children being abused in schools, challenging unfair policies affecting many of the black people in London among other things,” said Sowande, who has helped revive the VI’s African Studies Club since his return.

However, he still saw that many things were lacking, especially with the Movement’s ability to make real changes, which is a limitation associated with black radical movements.

Following his return to the Virgin Islands in late 2006, Sowande took up employment in 2007 as a Lecturer at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College teaching English Composition and Literature.

At that point where he left London and returned home, the Virgin Islander said rather than bringing the type of approach of the radical movements to the VI, through which changes were not easily forthcoming, he felt he could find more effective means of addressing issues in his homeland and make real changes.

Sowande looks up to the late Noel Lloyd as his role model and emulated himself after the great Virgin Islander.

Sowande said before he even started his journey of community upliftment and standing against injustice, the late Noel Lloyd had already done this.

Through the reading of a manuscript called “Positive Action 1968” written by Noel Lloyd, Sowande said he learnt so much of what the great son of the soil had done that it had a great impact on him.

“He was doing so much. He had travelled to Africa; he built an industrial plant to make tools, and he was politically active in the BVI; he was leading marches, taking stands on issues, and I saw him as a role model for myself,” said Sowande.

Since his return to the VI in late 2006, Sowande started to make regular appearances on the radio talk show “Umoja” (meaning unity).

“Being able to appear on this programme gave me an opportunity to expose my political viewpoints, and I found that I had similar views with the host¸ Cromwell Smith aka “Edju en ka,” said the very proactive lecturer.

Sowande has strong opinions on several topical and controversial issues that have been surfacing in the Virgin Islands over the past few years.

In 2007, he joined with what was then called the Fisherpersons Association and Concerned Citizens for the Protection of Beef Island Project and took a firm stance against the National Democratic Party government’s support of the Beef Island Development Project.

“We felt the Beef island project was not in the best interest of the people of the BVI environmentally, socially, or economically, so we protested, we went to court and won the case,” Sowande recalled.

Sowande also joined the Farmers on the Move association and is very active in trying to move farming in the Virgin Islands forward and has also taken a stance against the greenhouse project that is being introduced by the Government.

“I took a stand against it, and it is something I don’t think it is in the best interest of the BVI, health wise and economically. I don’t think hydroponic is healthy and I think that the government has not involved farmers in the development of farming in the BVI, and they are competing against them rather than developing them,” Sowande opined.

More recently, he took a strong stance against the bringing in of BiWater, a foreign water and sewerage company, to fix the water and sewerage woes of the Territory.

“Biwater is a broke company with a bad reputation and we have a local company that can do the job better than they can and for a better price,” he said.  He has since appeared on radio and television and also took part in a recent rally and march speaking out against the contract given to Biwater.

“I think in a number of different areas we need to embark on a new direction, and I think we need people that would take us in a new direction, and I would like to see the BVI have both political leaders and community leaders that will take the BVI in a new direction,” said Sowande.

“We see the BVI is suffering in a lot of different areas, such as the infrastructure, schools, health, economics and things are getting tougher for people, and I just feel we need leaders who will emerge and take the BVI in a different direction then where we are going right now.”

The multi-talented young man who also has a keen eye for photography, advises young people to strive to make a difference.

“I think young people have a big stake in the development of the territory as we are basically going to inherit all the problems from the previous generation, and they left us quite a bit. Young people have to take the opportunity to develop themselves in order to develop the territory, be it educationally, socially, spiritually or economically,” said the Young Professional who is also a musicial lyricist and recently launched his first single, I Wanna Fly”.

While he is yet to decide exactly how he will be part of the solution in terms of his direct involvement in a leadership capacity, the young Virgin Islander knows one thing for sure, that he will do whatever it takes, and what is best to be able to not just take a stands on issues and injustice in his community but to bring about needed changes to the Virgin Islands.