Reading Andean Lives was like having Gregorio and Asunta talking to me and telling me their life story. This testimonial reminds me a lot of Rigoberta Menchu’s book I, Rigoberta Menchu. Both described the difficulties of daily life for poor people, particularly poor indigenous and the many abuses that they suffer throughout their lives. It was so sad when Gregorio talked about how life is suffering and that it has gotten worse. He and Asunta have both suffered their whole lives, even as young children. “It just wasn’t in the stars for me to reach Cuzco and become a houseboy; instead, I was destined to go round in circles, suffering from one town to the next.” What a depressing view of life and even sadder is the fact that he is being entirely realistic without any exaggeration. His life has been suffering and it can be felt through the pages in his descriptions of his many beatings and mistreatments at the hands of so many different people. And his life and his struggles and suffering are the rule not the exception. It is the fate of so many throughout Peru.
In her testimony Rigoberta Menchu discussed the difficulties of growing up as poor and indigenous and there are a lot of similarities with Andean Lives. She also talks about a rough life, even as a child, where children are not allowed to be children. They have their childhood taken away from them and are forced into adulthood way before they are anywhere close to adulthood. Children should be allowed to be young and free of responsibility, going out with their friends and having fun while they enjoy life. This should be the right of every child. It should not be a privilege to be allowed to have a childhood. But some children are not seen as or allowed to be children and Indigenous children are one of these types. Since the Spanish landed here and began colonization the indigenous people have been dehumanized, a treatment that extended to their children. You can still see these sentiments today as Gregorio’s and Asunta’s testimonies prove. For us there are age limits for starting work and for most it is not for survival but to have some spending money. Suffering should not be a person’s destiny and it certainly should not start in childhood. Life should be more than survival, especially when there is a way for people to live better lives.
Hi Anja!
It definitely struck me when you said that Gregorio is being entirely realistic without exaggeration. I think that, if anything, the testimonies of Gregorio and Asunta have clarified that one’s fate is often not about how hard you work or how much you deserve it – it’s luck, also largely based on the position you are born in respect to the wider world.
Hey Anja:)
Thankyou for sharing about the testimonios you’ve read. I am also currently reading I, Rigoberta Menchu, and feel moved by her ability to share her story after enduring so much struggle so that she may improve future lives for her people. I feel that Gregorio and Asunta probably hoped for a similar outcome as a result of sharing their stories. When I read the following quote,
“It just wasn’t in the stars for me to reach Cuzco and become a houseboy; instead, I was destined to go round in circles, suffering from one town to the next.”
I took it to be a form of strength as well as a coping strategy. Though it it terrible that their lives consisted of nonstop suffering, acceptance of an unchangeable situation can bring relief and peace.
“Since the Spanish landed here and began colonization the indigenous people have been dehumanized, a treatment that extended to their children.” True, but for me the most worrying thing is that in the last two hundred years very little has been done to reverse this situation. Peru’s national governments have been incapable or lazy to resolve this. You have focused the problem on children, but it is also serious in the case of older people. Without social security to live through the last years, without the possibility of having minimum hygienic conditions, the quality of life has not improved significantly for a majority of the population. The indigenous elders are the great forgotten ones in the (post)modern world of today’s Peru.