Today more and more women are moving into the mainstream of automotive work. I continue to find it interesting to discover what actually inspires these women early on in life. In this woman’s story, the initial desire to pursue a field of auto repair came from her father, like many women I have interviewed in previous stories.
Hana Farley, who is 29 years old, is very energetic and anxious to learn whatever she can grab onto when it comes to automotive repair. I recently met Hana through a neighbor who was in need of some auto repair for her vehicle.
I agreed to perform the repairs and was excited to hear that her granddaughter was eager to lend a helping hand. Since I am always in search of women who wish to embrace the automotive repair world, I jumped at the chance to check out her skill set.
After she brought the vehicle into the shop, I was amazed at how knowledgeable Hana already was in various repairs, but was still willing to learn from anyone, especially another woman who would give her the time of day.
Hana had a good starter collection of tools which she proudly transported in a suitcase that her mother gave her a while back. As we began our repairs, I was surprised to see just how many tools were in that suitcase; I was beginning to wonder if in fact that suitcase belonged to Mary Poppins, who seemed to have no end to what she could hold in her bag.
I found Hana to be somewhat of a free spirit in her views on life and I found it to be rather refreshing. If you did not know Hana, you would have thought she consumed a pot of coffee prior to beginning, because she was like the Energizer Bunny with endless energy.
As we mastered the repair on her grandmother’s vehicle, another one came in that needed new tires. Without hesitation, Hana jumped in, explaining that she spent four years at a tire shop working as a tire monkey, as she put it.
Recently, I was given an enormous number of tools belonging to an 89 year old gentleman who had never met me. It turns out he learned of me through various articles and TV interviews and searched the media to locate my contact information so that he could offer me all of his tools, including a car he had purchased in 1971. There were so many tools that I was trying to figure out where best to put them to good use . I wanted to offer them to a young woman who was pursuing a career in the mechanical field, but lacked the funds to purchase her own tools.
After spending the day with Hana and hearing her story, I felt that God must have brought her to me so that I could pass on this gracious gift that was given to me, and offer it to her. By the end of the day, I knew that this was exactly where many of these tools belonged – with Hana.
Hana has been working with her ex-boyfriend as a field mechanic and sharing many of his tools.
As the day was winding down, I went over to where I had the large stack of tools stored in the shop and asked her if she needed an impact gun. Hana’s response was, no, because she did not have an air compressor big enough to run it. Well, I told her, "you will once you take the air compressor that was sitting next to it."
The look on Hana’s face was one of great emotion. I believe she came as close to tears as someone could. After that, I began to go through all the tools asking her what she needed. What I found by doing that was amazing; you would have thought that someone who was being offered these types of gifts might just want to take everything, but in fact she was quite the opposite. If there was something she already owned, she stated, “Thank you, but I already have that one.” This to me, right then and there, showed me exactly the type of person Hana was... honest, sincere and very humble. This solidified my decision to donate the tools to Hana in hopes they will help her succeed at whatever she pursues for her future. As they say, all things happen for a reason, and in this case, that saying stands