In Seville, Abad attended the General Santander Educational Institution whose director was José María Velasco Ibarra, former President of Ecuador who was in exile in Colombia.
He first social activist work was in 1938 when he organised a strike with five students against admission exams for entrance into university.
At 18 years old, his family moved to Medellín, just north of Jericó, where Abad entered the School of Medicine at the University of Antioquia (UdeA).
After the death of a classmate and neighbours from typhoid fever, Abad initiated a debate on Colombia's poor water quality through U-235.
[7] In August 1987, the number of professors and students at the UdeA increased, mainly at the direction of Carlos Castaño Gil and his paramilitary groups.
[11] Following Valencia's death, Abad demanded action from the authorities against violence committed by paramilitary groups.
Vélez was murdered around 7:30 a.m. by a paramilitary group on 25 August 1987 in front of the headquarters of the Association of Teachers of Antioquia (ADIDA) in Medellín.
At age 16, Marta died of melanoma, deeply affecting Abad and strengthening his sense of social justice.
Ashley McNelis from the Bomb Magazine, describes the book as "...an honest and thorough reflection on a man's life from his son's perspective that also considers the private sphere of the family and the political turbulence in Colombia in the 1980s.