Debra Thompson's life is a testament to the fact that strength can grow from broken ground. Thompson, 55, is the director of Tuff Farms Ltd, a family business she owns with her husband Richard Thompson in Freeport.
Tuff Farms teaches hydroponics, builds hydroponic systems, and contracts hydroponic produce for purchase. And while Tuff may be an acronym for Thompson Urban Family Farms, it's also a reflection of her, and her family's resilience.
Thompson grew up in a violent household in Arima, witnessing her alcoholic and gambling father beat her mother. She recalled one incident when her mother, desperate to escape, fled with her four children to her parents. They sent her back. Her father warned her mother if she ever left for good, she couldn't take his children.
When Thompson was seven, her mother ran away. She said their board house had gaps in the walls, and one day she saw her mother peeking through one of those cracks. After that, Thompson would search for footprints in the dirt outside, finding comfort in the fact her mother cared.
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