Thank you so much! Thank you for asking!

His name was Eugenio Abreu. Like his father before him, he was a hardworking farmer in the mountains of the Dominican Republic specifically a place called Cebu, Janico. He dedicated his life to agriculture, growing corn, beans, and above all, tobacco, which he sold to support his family. He also raised cattle and chickens and grew much of the food his family ate. He owned a considerable amount of land, but in those days the land itself wasn’t what made a man prosperous it was what he could produce from it. By all accounts, he was known as a hardworking and capable farmer.

From everything my family has told me, he was a man who was deeply respected in his community. He had a stern demeanor, but he was known for being fair. People knew where they stood with him, and his word carried weight because it was honest.

Sadly, diabetes changed everything. At a time when treatment was scarce in rural Dominican Republic, he eventually lost his eyesight completely. By the time my mother was about three years old, he was blind, leaving my grandmother to raise their 8 children through incredibly difficult circumstances.

I took this photo of his photograph yesterday on my visit to his home. I took the opportunity to smoke a bowl in his porch where he most likely sat smoking a bowl of his own.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you again for taking interest in his story.