Self-taught mechanic keeps weed whackers buzzing

Nyron Fyffe used to walk at least a mile from his home in Above Rocks, St Catherine, every day in 2013 to get transportation to the Corporate Area where he sold ground provision and coconuts. But one day he approached a disgruntled man whose weed whacker was in need of urgent repair.

"I heard him cussing that him tired of the weed whacker giving him trouble and I told him that I would fix it. He took the chance with me and from that day, I started to take repairing those tools seriously," Fyffe said.

While he may have replaced his gardening tools for spanners, screws, engine oil and wrenches, he is basking in his new-found pleasure of repairing lawnmowers, weed whackers and other landscaping tools.

THE STAR caught up with the 38-year-old at his workshop along Red Hills Road, St Andrew, where several tools waited for the 'touch of the specialist'.

Fyffe grew up in Above Rocks with his mother and nine siblings; the household relied heavily on farming. However, his early childhood was riddled with hospital visits as he suffered from chronic asthma.

"I spent every day in the hospital. You see out of the 365 days in the year, I don't think I go school for 20 days good. Me lef' from school to hospital and if me go school me end up a hospital. That's how bad I had it," he said.

Because of frequent hospitalisations, his education didn't go beyond Above Rocks Primary School, and at age 16, he secured employment at Nutrafresh on Slipe Road, Kingston, working among machines. He developed a curiosity for mechanics and never allowed his dream of becoming an electrical or mechanical engineer to be blighted by his illness.

"I had bought a whacker and it was at home. I always pull it [apart] and fix it up back, that was a challenge to myself. When I saw the man with his weed whacker, cursing about it, that was the first time I was fixing another whacker other than mine. It was a really good feeling because it was actually working and afterwards he started introducing people to me, telling them that I can fix whackers," Fyffe reflected.

"You see the same way you go doctor and you tell him what is wrong with you, when persons carry their machine they tell me what's wrong. I do a diagnostic test and we go from there. What I usually see is like a filter needs to change, diaphragm holes, gas lights coming up or they want to change parts," he added.

Although not formally trained, Fyffe believes that landscaping is an art and believes people should respect landscapers more.

"First of all, if you clip a flowers wrong, that flowers can die just life, if a doctor cut you hand bad you can lose the whole arm. That's the same thing in landscaping and a lot of people cut grass and trees wrong and don't understand. Not everyone can do it well and you have to do it in such a way not to damage them," he said.

As the Yuletide season approaches, Fyffe sees an increase in demands as homeowners hurry to spruce up their properties.

"Nobody nuh want use machete anymore, them nah use cutlass. Weed whackers and lawnmowers won't ever stop use because some people home you can't carry whackers because the grass is so delicate. See if you going you cut Zoysia grass, you have to use lawnmowers not whackers cause you going box up the grass and mess up the grass. You want them sue you? This is serious business," Fyffe told THE STAR.

He said that he intends to expand his business to a bigger location and to formally employ apprentices.