Alvin Lewis and his newest creation, which he calls the Sanko. - Photos by Robert Lalah

Robert Lalah, Assistant Editor - Features

Dodging 18-wheelers and fast-moving Toyotas comes as just part of the job when you're a roadside peddler. For 53-year-old Alvin Lewis, a veteran miniature shipbuilder, it's a small price to pay to make a living doing the only thing that brings a smile to his face.

In the middle of a cluster of cars and buses on Marcus Garvey Drive, in St. Andrew, recently, the self-proclaimed ship expert tried selling what he called a medium-sized sailboat.

"I call this one the Sanko," he said, using his hand to block the sunlight from his eyes. "Is a bigger size boat, so it not going to sell so easy. It might take a few hours," he said.

Upscale clientele

Alvin lives in nearby Majesty Gardens and has developed a clientele that expands to upscale communities in upper St. Andrew. "Yes man. When I ready I just walk go uptown to Norbrook and New Kingston and sell dem off very fast. I carry the bigger ones up dat side because the people up there will pay more. Down here I only sell the small and medium ones," he said.

A small ship will run you about $1,500 while the bigger ones (which go up to about four feet long) can cost as much as $6,000.

"The other day a doctor tell me that him want all of Columbus ship dem. Di Nina, di Pinta and di Santa Maria. I working on dem now, but dem nuh finish yet. Him say dat him also want a slave ship, so I going to have to do dat too," the shipbuilder said.

Alvin uses pictures he finds in old magazines to guide him while he makes the ships. "Each one take me about a day to build. If is a big ship it might take a little longer," he said. "I use only pine to make them. It stronger and will last longer."

He started making the ships 13 years ago when a chance encounter with an Italian visitor to the island changed his life. "I meet this Italian ship engineer and after we reason for a while him show me how to make the ship dem. After dat I start practise and now all I have to do is go out to Kingston Harbour and look at a ship and I can go back home and make it. I make any kind of sea vessel, even aircraft carrier," Alvin said.

So the ship-making business has been paying the bills for Alvin for over a decade, but now he's hit a roadblock and the craft that he's spent more than a decade perfecting will have to help him clear it.

Alvin has developed an infection in his left leg (a leg he has had numerous problems with since birth) and doctors at the Kingston Public Hospital have told him that he needs to come up with $48,000 to purchase special beads that will help control it. They told him that if he doesn't get the beads soon, they'll have no choice but to amputate the leg. "Bwoy I woulda really hate if dat happen. Right now I fret every night and hope that the ship thing will work it out for me," he said.

Money have to stretch

Alvin has an appointment with his doctors in April and his goal is to have enough money, saved by then, to pay for the beads. The problem is that shipbuilding is the only thing that sustains him and his 17-year-old daughter, who lives with him. "The likkle money have to really stretch and because of the infection I can't even walk uptown anymore. I just have to hope that I can sell enough right here to raise the money. It really worrying me," Alvin whispered.

But as desperate as his situation is, Alvin refuses to ask for a hand-out. He is determined that the craft he learned 13 years ago will come to his rescue and ultimately save his life. "I not asking anybody to just dig inna dem pocket and give me money. I want to work for the money. I can build ship, it's what I do and it is going to save my foot. I am a man and I will make this work out, one way or another," he said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

Roadside peddler works to save his leg; he has only weeks