Hello everyone!
Yesterday, being Thursday evening, I was about to turn on my generator. The moment I pulled the starter, the rope followed my hand due to the force I applied—it had snapped. What a frustrating moment! I stood there, holding the cut piece in my hand, feeling disappointed. Anyway, it was not too bad, considering this was the first time the rope had cut after two years of use.
Unfortunately for me, I had no tools at home. No tools came with the generator when I bought it, and I suspect they were removed at the retail shop before I purchased it. I did not notice this until several months into using the generator and I couldn't go back to request for the basic tools such as spanners and screwdrivers.
I walked down to a mechanic shop close to my street and pleaded with the mechanic to come to my house to fix it. He insisted that he was busy and suggested that it would be better if I could bring the generator to his shop. That was something I was not ready to do. Although the shop was not far from my house, there was no way I could carry the big generator on my own. Besides, there was nobody in my compound to help me move it.
After several attempts to convince him, he called out his apprentice, a little girl named Ella, and asked her to follow me to my house to loosen the starter and bring it to the shop. I was skeptical at first. I could not remember the last time I had seen a female mechanic, let alone a young girl learning to repair generators. In my part of the world, mechanical work is typically associated with boys.
"Ella, can you do this?" I asked again, wanting to be sure, as we walked toward my compound.
"Yes. I can even fix the rope, but my Oga would not allow me to do that," the girl answered with full confidence.
When we arrived at my house, I showed her the generator. Without hesitation, she skillfully loosened the starter box. We then returned to the shop, where her master fixed the rope and handed the starter box back to her to reinstall on my generator. I paid him N1,000 (less than $1), and we headed back to my house.
Ella reattached the starter box, though she encountered slight difficulty aligning it correctly to its original position. Eventually, she secured it in place. When I pulled the starter, the generator roared to life on the first attempt. We both smiled.
I could not just let the girl leave like that. Although I had already paid for the service, I was moved to encourage her by giving her N1,000 of her own. I was not sure whether she would keep it or hand it over to her master, but that was my small way of appreciating her skill and motivating her to keep learning and never give up on her craft.
Thanks for reading.
Photos used are mine