EUGENA Brown’s voice is strong, her mind is as sharp as ever and her sure, confident steps around her Mona home show little evidence of the fact that she is virtually blind.

But what is even more amazing, is the fact that this 79-year-old government pensioner, retired since 1984, is able to maintain her dignified demeanour and positive outlook on life, despite the many challenges that confront her every day.

After giving 42 years of service to her country, first as a teacher for 18 years and then as a civil servant working throughout Jamaica as one of the island’s pioneers in the training of government workers, Brown currently receives a paltry monthly pension of $15,000. It was with a warm smile of welcome that she greeted this reporter, cautioning: “Did you make sure to lock up your car properly? You have to be so careful these days.”

Eugena Brown is one of the estimated 16,000 retired civil servants represented by the Jamaica Government Pensioners Association (JGPA) who are lobbying the Government to address what they describe as “disparities and anomalies” in the current pensions system.

Brown lives with her 37-year-old daughter, Carol, who is both physically and mentally challenged from birth.

It was only the middle of the month, but already her food budget was exhausted and there was hardly anything left for the mother and daughter to eat… until the next pension cheque came through on the 25th.

“I usually spend about $10,000 a month on food for Carol and myself and $5,000 for a weekly day’s worker and monthly gardener,” Brown said.

“It used to be just enough, but now with the price increases it just can’t stretch to last until the next pension payment. The doctor told me to eat bran for my diverticulitis (an intestinal disorder) but now I can’t afford to buy it, not even the cheaper brand from Trinidad,” Brown complained.

She told the Sunday Observer that she had to buy cooking gas this month and found that the cylinder went up from $1,900 to $2,600. “That additional $700 means a big difference in terms of what and how much my daughter and I will eat for the rest of the month.”

So inadequate is Brown’s monthly pension that even some necessary expenses can’t be considered. “I would love to continue Carol’s speech and physical therapy, but I just can’t afford it,” she said, noting: “That is such a shame, because when I could afford the therapy I could see so much improvement — Carol learned to feed herself and even to do some reading.”

Hearing her name mentioned, Carol looked toward us from her wheelchair and laughed, eliciting an affectionate smile from her mom.

But despite Eugena Brown’s strong religious faith and calm acceptance of her plight, one cannot help but feel that the country to which she has dedicated so much of her life to serving — educating thousands of its youth and training hundreds of its government workers — has repaid her with ingratitude… and impecuniosity. It’s a fight to maintain dignity under her circumstances.

“The roof was leaking badly, but I knew I couldn’t afford to fix it, so I asked the gardener to cover the bad areas with some tarpaulin and hold it down with some concrete blocks. That kind of helped, but the tarpaulin started to rot and the leaking started again.

“Anyway, a gentleman was repairing a neighbour’s roof across the road and he looked across and saw the frayed tarpaulin on the house. He came over and told me that he could fix it for me, but I told him I could not afford it,” she related.

“Well, he took pity on me and said he would do it for a reduced cost. I managed to find a deposit and he fixed the roof, but until now I cannot find the money to pay him the rest and I feel so badly because I wanted to give him something before he asked me for it. But just last week he asked if I could give him something and I didn’t have it and that is not good because he was very kind to me,” she said sadly.

Brown is not quick to speak of her personal needs, but admits that she misses reading. She said: “I have always had a thirst for knowledge and a great fondness of books, but because of severe glaucoma I can’t see to read.

“People who know how much I loved to read have suggested that I learn Braille, but when I found out how expensive books in Braille are, I just didn’t bother to learn it… I just can’t afford to buy those books.”

Brown is hoping that the Government Pensioners Association achieves success in its lobbying efforts on their behalf.

At their 37th annual general meeting on July 27, the pensioners supported a call made by their president, Clinton Davis, “for the Government to set up a pensions review board… so that there can be some standardisation of the system of pension payments to retired civil servants”.

Davis told this newspaper that “the most appropriate answer to the plight of Miss Brown and the thousands of other pensioners like her, is for indexation to changing salaries so that those pensioners who retired before 1995 will be on par with those who have retired since 1995”.

The JGPA president said that Finance Minister Omar Davies had already agreed that “pensioners who retired before 1995 are deserving of special attention” but has not acted to correct the situation.

In the meantime, Eugena Brown and so many like her continue to survive, not so much by dint of their meagre pensions, as by the generosity of family and friends who know and appreciate the contribution they have made to the development of their country.