AMID THE pulsating beat of election campaigning in West Portland, government pensioner Ronald Butt is suffering.

The golden-ager daily faces abject poverty that few have ever encountered. Butt can hardly find food and the place he calls home - though being a beachside property - is not the most habitable.

"Life tuff, but wah mi fi do? Mi would glad fi likkle help but nobody no really come round fi help mi," the near four-foot tall, ageing man tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Butt lives 100 metres from the seashore in a wooden structure that is hardly big enough to accommodate him and his female companion.

rugged shack

It is a rugged shack covered by five sheets of zinc and decorated with junk, which he says his female companion generally carries home when she walks the streets.

Butt's companion was not home during The Sunday Gleaner's visit on Friday, but her mark was everywhere: old pots, cans, glass, plastic, shoes and clothes.

Inside the house is no room for a dresser, so Butt uses a piece of mirror attached to the side of the building. He has no Chinaware, so he uses the base of a water bottle as a plate. He has no stove, no television, nothing. His pots are some rusting black, metal containers.

Despite his dire circumstances, the political fever has not escaped Butt. The only bit of light in Butt's house is his newest memorabilia - a massive glowing poster with clear political instructions: 'Vote Kenneth Rowe'.

never misses voting opportunity

Rowe will contest the March 23 by-election in the constituency for the People's National Party (PNP) against the Jamaica Labour Party's Daryl Vaz.

Butt jealously defends his franchise and vows never to give up an opportunity to exercise it.

"From Daddy (Norman) Manley time, mi a follow dis society. Is dem give mi work so dat today mi can get a likkle pension," Butt says.

He tells The Sunday Gleaner that he was born "di year a di Bustamante riot" and he has his birth certificate to prove it.

From the clutter inside his house Butt retrieves a scandal bag which contains a Gleaner page. Inside the page is his birth certificate which indicates he was born on September 15, 1938.

Butt says he was born in Westmoreland to a father who was a soldier and a mother who was a housewife. He claims to have been a sickly child, having been born with four kidneys, and thus did not benefit from an education.

worked as handyman

Being unable to read or write, Butt spent the rest of his life doing gardening, a skill which took him to the the Ministry of Education where he says he worked as a handyman for several years.

Butt relates that he used to live in a better one-bedroom house in Buff Bay. But that was before Hurricane Gilbert visited in 1988, destroying his house and forcing him to start life all over again under a few sheets of zinc by the seaside.

Butt is not complaining about his condition; he just wishes they were better.

For now, he is making lemonade with the limes life has thrown at him, but he would love coffee and tea for a change.

"Any help mi can get mi tek, but otherwise mi just affi live yah so 'til my time come," the poor old man says resignedly.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com