Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family
Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family
巴西一名女子被同一家族三代人奴役 55 年
We’ll call her Maria, the most common female name in Brazil, because authorities have not disclosed her real name in order to protect her identity. Maria, who was sent to work as a live-in domestic servant for a family at the age of seven, has just been rescued at 62 in the northeastern city of Fortaleza by Brazil’s Labor Prosecutor’s Office after spending more than half a century in slave-like conditions — with no pay, no vacation and never having learned to read or write.
我们姑且称她为玛丽亚（Maria），这是巴西最常见的女性名字，因为当局为了保护其身份并未披露她的真名。玛丽亚 7 岁时就被送往一个家庭做住家保姆，在经历了半个多世纪奴隶般的待遇——没有工资、没有假期，且从未学会读写——之后，她刚在东北部城市福塔莱萨被巴西劳工检察官办公室救出，此时她已 62 岁。
The domestic worker was exploited by three generations of the same family, an unusual but not unique case. She was still waking up at 4:30 a.m. to prepare breakfast and get children ready for school. Although the family has agreed to compensate her, Maria, who lived in near-total isolation and without contact with her relatives, will remain with her employers, while authorities try to locate her family.
这名家政工人遭到了同一家族三代人的剥削，这种情况虽然罕见，但并非孤例。直到获救前，她依然每天凌晨 4:30 起床准备早餐并送孩子们上学。尽管该家族已同意赔偿，但由于玛丽亚长期处于近乎完全与世隔绝的状态，且与亲属失去联系，在当局设法寻找其家人的过程中，她仍将暂时留在雇主家中。
Statistics suggest that Maria was undoubtedly poor and, most likely, Black. That is the profile of the more than six million Brazilian women who care for children, cook, wash, iron, and clean in households other than their own. They only won full labor rights a little more than a decade ago.
统计数据表明，玛丽亚无疑是贫困的，且极有可能是黑人。这就是巴西六百多万从事育儿、烹饪、洗涤、熨烫和清洁工作的女性的典型画像。她们直到十多年前才获得了完整的劳动权益。
Maria did not handle money, had no bank account, and no friends. She had never gone to the beach by herself. “She lived in a kind of prison,” Maria Neuzeli, a prosecutor specializing in the eradication of domestic slave labor, told local media. “She didn’t know how to get around the city, she was afraid of the violence outside. And because she was given clothes, food, and shelter, she felt she was being paid for her work.”
玛丽亚从不经手钱财，没有银行账户，也没有朋友。她从未独自去过海滩。“她生活在一种监狱里，”专门负责根除家庭奴役劳工的检察官玛丽亚·纽泽利（Maria Neuzeli）告诉当地媒体，“她不知道如何在城市里走动，她害怕外面的暴力。而且因为雇主给她提供衣服、食物和住所，她觉得这就是对她工作的报酬。”
Specialists explain that because the exploitation begins in childhood, victims are often unaware of the seriousness of the abuse. Moreover, they know no world beyond that household. Maria’s mother had also worked for the same family.
专家解释说，由于剥削始于童年，受害者往往意识不到虐待的严重性。此外，她们对那个家庭之外的世界一无所知。玛丽亚的母亲也曾为同一个家庭工作过。
The family accused of keeping her in conditions of slavery is white and has the surname Brasil — a detail loaded with symbolism for a form of exploitation that specialists regard as a legacy of slavery, which was abolished in Brazil in 1888.
被指控将她置于奴役状态的家庭是白人，姓氏为“巴西”（Brasil）——这一细节对于这种被专家视为 1888 年巴西废除奴隶制后遗留的剥削形式而言，充满了象征意义。
The current employers, the third generation of the Brasil family, have reached an agreement with labor prosecutors under which they will purchase an apartment worth $30,000 for the victim, “fully furnished and equipped with household appliances,” according to a statement from the Labor Prosecutor’s Office. They will also pay her an additional $10,000 in compensation.
据劳工检察官办公室的一份声明，现任雇主（巴西家族的第三代）已与劳工检察官达成协议，他们将为受害者购买一套价值 3 万美元的公寓，“家具齐全并配备家用电器”。他们还将额外支付 1 万美元作为赔偿。
“The signing of this agreement does not rule out the possibility that the worker may pursue individual claims through the courts,” the statement added.
声明补充道：“签署该协议并不排除该工人通过法院提出个人诉讼的可能性。”
Maria was exploited for 55 years by three couples spanning three generations: first two retirees, then a lawyer and a civil servant, and finally a veterinarian and another civil servant. According to the news outlet G1, they are also suspected of fraud. Prosecutors believe that, in addition to denying her wages for her domestic work, they appropriated the roughly $115 a month that Maria received through Bolsa Família, Brazil’s flagship anti-poverty program.
玛丽亚在 55 年间被跨越三代的夫妻剥削：最初是一对退休夫妇，接着是一名律师和一名公务员，最后是一名兽医和另一名公务员。据新闻媒体 G1 报道，他们还涉嫌欺诈。检察官认为，除了克扣她的家政工资外，他们还侵占了玛丽亚通过巴西旗舰反贫困计划“家庭补助金”（Bolsa Família）每月领取的约 115 美元。
The Brasil family “categorically denies the allegations, which do not reflect the relationship of coexistence, care, and affection built over decades with the woman involved,” according to a statement released through a law firm.
通过一家律师事务所发布的声明称，巴西家族“断然否认这些指控，称其并未反映出几十年来与该女子建立的共存、关怀和情感关系”。
Maria entered their lives around 1971 — the year Henry Kissinger visited China, John Lennon wrote Imagine, and Mexico hosted the first Women’s World Cup.
玛丽亚大约在 1971 年进入他们的生活——那一年，亨利·基辛格访问了中国，约翰·列侬创作了《Imagine》，墨西哥举办了首届女足世界杯。
The shock generated by the case has been compounded by controversy over the authorities’ decision to allow Maria, for now, to remain with the family that enslaved her for 55 years.
该案件引发的震惊，因当局决定暂时允许玛丽亚留在奴役了她 55 年的家庭中而加剧了争议。
Luciano Aragão Santos, the national coordinator for the eradication of slave labor, says that rescues in domestic settings are “even more complex” because victims are often stripped of their autonomy, cut off from family ties, and denied access to healthcare and education. For that reason, leaving such situations “requires a genuine effort toward the victim’s social reintegration, the restoration of family connections, and the construction of an independent and dignified life,” he said.
国家根除奴隶劳动协调员卢西亚诺·阿拉冈·桑托斯（Luciano Aragão Santos）表示，家庭环境中的营救“更为复杂”，因为受害者往往被剥夺了自主权，与家庭纽带断绝，且无法获得医疗和教育。因此，他表示，脱离这种处境“需要为受害者的社会重返、家庭联系的恢复以及构建独立而有尊严的生活做出真正的努力”。
The concern is that Maria’s dependence on the exploiting family is so extreme that removing her abruptly, without a structured support network, could do more harm than good.
人们担心玛丽亚对剥削家庭的依赖程度极深，若在没有结构化支持网络的情况下突然将她带走，可能会弊大于利。
Maria is now at an age when wealthier Brazilians are already retired and, whether rich or poor, enjoy priority treatment in queues and when boarding airplanes.
玛丽亚现在的年纪，富裕的巴西人早已退休，无论贫富，在排队和登机时都能享受优先待遇。
The traditional maid’s room is gradually disappearing in Brazil, but buildings with separate social and service elevators — for domestic workers, visiting technicians, neighbors with dogs, or residents carrying groceries — remain commonplace.
传统的保姆房在巴西正逐渐消失，但拥有独立社交电梯和工作电梯的建筑——供家政工人、上门技术人员、带狗的邻居或携带杂货的居民使用——依然随处可见。
This case of severe human-rights violations came to light thanks to an anonymous tip, something that is becoming increasingly common as public awareness grows and witnesses become more willing to report abuses.
这起严重的侵犯人权案件之所以曝光，多亏了一份匿名举报。随着公众意识的提高和目击者更愿意举报虐待行为，这种情况正变得越来越普遍。
Every so often, Brazil is shaken by the rescue of a domestic worker who has spent decades in slavery-like conditions in the home of an outwardly respectable family. The stories follow a familiar pattern, differing mainly in the details.
巴西不时会因营救出一名在表面体面的家庭中度过数十年奴隶般生活的家政工人而感到震惊。这些故事遵循着相似的模式，主要区别仅在于细节。
The turning point was the case of Madalena Gordiano, whose rescue in 2021 attracted enormous attention. After receiving compensation from the affluent family that had enslaved her, she gained her independence. She started a new life, made new friends, enjoyed swims in the ocean, and took Zumba classes, sharing her newfound freedom on social media.
转折点是马达莱娜·戈迪亚诺（Madalena Gordiano）的案件，她于 2021 年获救，引起了巨大关注。在从奴役她的富裕家庭获得赔偿后，她获得了独立。她开始了新的生活，结交了新朋友，享受在大海中游泳，并参加了尊巴舞课程，在社交媒体上分享她新获得的自由。