Ruth Villcas, mechanic: “It was difficult to look for a job; They told me: ‘this is not for you’”

“Tomorrow we are going to Ayacucho, to the races, get your things ready,” they announced. The moment he had been waiting for had arrived after three years of trying to be part of the mechanical team that went to the competitions. That day he preferred to walk to his house after work, from Chorrillos to Surco. On the way, he jumped up and cried with joy. “Finally!” he yelled. Thus she became the only mechanic in the races and perhaps the first. He removed tires, bathed in oil, everything for the team to win. “You’re a mechanic,” they told her with surprise. They took pictures of her with her. And his first came Inca roads, where he made history. “I got famous in race cars,” she says, and smiles.

Ruth Villcas has embarked on another career: standing out in the heavy machinery. She is an assistant construction equipment technician for the Komatsu-Mitsui mining services company. “They say that the work of mechanics is something rough, but that is not in my mind”, she tells me about her work where knowledge of the machine predominates.

In addition to working on equipment for the diagnosis, maintenance and repair of sophisticated vehicles owned by drivers such as Nicolás Fuchs and Ricardo Dasso, among the most awarded in the Peruvian rally, he became part of Miguel Álvarez’s team in the Dakar rally in Peru. Today, from Monday to Friday, he is in heavy machinery and on weekends, he helps in the car races. For now, the natural mechanic from Quillabamba, Cusco, is on vacation and at 11:30 at night she gives us this interview.

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-Was it difficult to enter the heavy machinery business?

Quite a bit, because I have studied automotive, I did not know anything about heavy machinery or hydraulic systems, but they gave me a great opportunity. Before I was in a car race and I already wanted to practice with heavy machinery, which was born when I was little, but I didn’t think of doing it because they always say that heavy machinery was for men. And I have been given the opportunity to show that I can.

-Although since you were a child you liked to play with cars, at what point did you decide that you should study mechanics?

When I finished school I had two professions in my head: being a police officer and an automaker. I applied to the Police, I was not given because of the size: 1.54 meters. I left sad, but I decided to apply to Senati and I entered. The first day of school, I arrived and I was the only woman. She had never studied with so many men (laughs). At first, I was a bit shocked: everyone saw me from head to toe, but I made it my mission to be the best. And when I finished my degree, I was still the only woman. They came to respect me.

-What did they tell you at home?

They were surprised: “You are a woman,” they told me. “And that has to do? I like cars, ”she would reply. But my mom always supported me.

-What’s her job?

She is a merchant, she sells fruits and vegetables, and I have also helped her.

-And the father?

He lives in Cuzco. My mother alone has been the one who has supported me by selling her fruit and vegetables, forever; Since I was 6 years old when I arrived in Lima, my mother dedicated herself to being a merchant. We came from Cusco. My mom decided to start from scratch.

-Why did they migrate?

For my dad, who hit her a lot and she took my sister and me to Lima. We had the help of my uncle. My mom started working as an employee in a house and they gave her toys: dolls, cars; my sister grabbed her wrists and I, since she was the youngest, stayed with the cars and dedicated myself to playing with the cars.

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What did your sister study?

Business Administration.

– Do you remember that time with nostalgia or perhaps with anger?

With sadness. I saw how my dad hit my mom. Already in Lima she played alone with the carts. And my mother was almost never there, we were with my grandmother, because my mother worked in bed. My mom worked hard to get us through. Today we already live together.

-She should already be calm that her daughters are finally professionals.

Yes… He made us study.

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-What macho expressions have you had to face?

It was difficult to look for work; They told me: “No, what are you going to be able to do”, “we don’t want women”, “this is not for you, you are making a mistake”. And I went to a workshop and they told me: “Well, but I’m going to give you 50 soles weekly.” “It doesn’t matter,” I said. He had to show that he could work. I had to show that I could remove a tire, that I could change the oils, the spark plugs. Later, a man took me to another workshop and then I went to another workshop, run by a woman, where they paid me 150 a week.

-And how did you get into the world of racing cars?

The lady’s partner came on Saturdays and I stayed late, 6 or 7 at night, helping, cleaning the cars. The others left at 4. The man saw that, and he offered me to enter the race cars. But they did not accept me. They said negative things. I distanced myself from my friends, from my family, everything was work. But they didn’t want me to go to the races. I thought: “Someday it will be”.

-To what do you attribute that you have achieved what you set out to do?

I never gave up despite the barriers. They made me cry because they said: “He doesn’t have any strength”, I listened to that and thought: “May my tears not be in vain.” My mind was on showing those who don’t believe in women that we can.

-You are a warrior like your mother.

Yes. Today in the race cars they look for girls like me. I’m glad I stopped that. I came to fulfill my dreams more than I had thought.

SELF-FICHE:

-“I am Ruth Deysi Villcas Huillca. I’m 25 years old. I was born in Cusco. Yes, I would like to get to work driving heavy machinery, I would like to get to a mine with heavy machinery; I know that it starts from below and I know that I am at the medium level to achieve it ”.

-“I have always dreamed of having my own company, a car mechanic shop. My mom is proud of having shown that women can, and that she has fulfilled more than my dreams were, that she has reached Caminos del Inca, the Dakar ”.

-“I was in the last Dakar in Peru, with Miguel Álvarez. At that time, Fernanda Kanno also called me, but the pandemic came. I don’t have a car, but soon (laughs); I would like to have a Toyota, a Raw. If I would like to race cars? It means investing a lot of money, although if they sponsor me, I would like to (laughs)”.

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