In Photos: The Secret World Of Modern Slavery

Nelson, 46, was trapped with his family in forced labour on a coffee farm in Brazil

I was born in Tanhaçu [in Brazil’s north-east], where the droughts are terrible. So my family and some friends found work on a coffee farm 1,200km away. We soon realised we were in trouble. There was no water to drink, and we had to sleep on tarpaulin in a decrepit house left to rot by the farmer. We became hostages, working every day for 11 hours, and received no food or payment for the whole harvest. The owner bullied us for three months until a local union rescued us from that hell and we returned home.

Photo: Lilo Clareto for the Guardian