POSTSCRIPT

Gregorio, in 1979, met the fate he had anticipated: he was run over by a car. Gravely injured, he was taken to Lorena Hospital. Asunta was not notified, and four days later, after searching the hospitals, she found him at the morgue. He was given a Christian burial in Almudena Cemetery. Just four people attended. Ricardo and Carmen, the original editors, had moved away from Coripata by that time and were living in another part of the Andes. They were able, however, to sponsor a mass for Gregorio a month later. They and their families helped Asunta during her remaining years, giving her food and money. She died of her maladies in 1983.
Ricardo and Carmen returned to Coripata in 1985. Steps had been built over the site of Gregorio and Asunta's home, and no signs remained that it had ever existed. The steps were later torn down to provide space for a road. Today the spot is marked by a curve in the highway between Cuzco and Huancaro. Time has erased their tracks, and if Ricardo and Carmen had not retained their words on paper, the wind would have taken them, like it has those of so many other Gregorios and Asuntas.

Their words have traveled far. Their narratives have received many editions and translations, raising consciousness about the poverty and brutal living conditions in the Andes. In 1987, a non-governmental organization called the Gregorio Condori Mamani Association was started by a group of Germans and local Cuzqueños who were moved by the narratives and who realized that there was a complete dearth of social services for strappers.

This led to the establishment of The Strappers' Association and The Strappers' House. The latter is a place where these marginalized workers are given housing, food, health services, and legal advice.' In the case of Asunta's narrative, a bilingual Quechua- Spanish edition was released in 1994 by a non-governmental organization in Cuzco as part of a literacy campaign for women in southern Peru. Asunta's life and words are thus helping to create and bolster women's groups in the highlands. The published narratives, then, have indeed fulfilled Asunta's and Gregorio's wishes "that the sufferings of our people be made known."

P.H.G. and G.M.E.

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