Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Otgonkhishig Choisuren and Bilegdemberel Battur plant flowers at Amar Central Square in Erdenet city, Orkhon province, Mongolia. Otgonkhishig, who is part of the province’s initiative to plant around 50,000 flowers, says, “I like this work very much, because I contribute to making our city scenery fresh by planting beautiful flowers of multiple colors. I do this out of happiness.”

Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

Baljinnyam Erdenechuluun, 12, and Temuulen Khash-Erdene, 14, ride bikes on training rollers in Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi province, Mongolia. Selected children, with permission from their parents, started training for state-level cycling races in hopes of qualifying for national races.

Erdenebulgan, Arkhangai Province, Mongolia

Tsogt-Ochir Damdin wraps flowers in plastic to prevent them from freezing in Erdenebulgan soum, Arkhangai province, Mongolia. Tsogt-Ochir says, “When my grandchildren are born, I plant a tree and assign it to each one of them.”

Erdenebulgan, Arkhangai Province, Mongolia

Oyunchimeg Lutbat paints flower details on the frame of a yurt, or ger, in Erdenebulgan soum, Arkhangai province, Mongolia. Oyunchimeg, who owns a woodworking business with her family, says, “We have been working at a wood factory from generation to generation, and now we are making everything that can be made of wood.”

Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

Ariunjargal Sainbuyan gives Khorolmaa Urtnasan the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in Dalanzadgad, the capital of Umnugovi province, Mongolia. According to its website, the province has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Uranchimeg Oyunchimeg paints a bench in a shopping district in Erdenet city, Orkhon province, Mongolia. Uranchimeg, who manages this retail area, says, “After the [coronavirus] lockdown is over, everyone will be back to work. I believe that people who come to our shopping street at that time would cheer up and feel happy seeing the colorful, fresh street.”

Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

A mobile team tests Bayaraa Jambaltseren for the coronavirus as others in line maintain social distancing in Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi province, Mongolia. As the number of coronavirus infections increased, Umnugovi province organized a surveillance measure called “One Family, One Test.”

Erdenebulgan, Arkhangai Province, Mongolia

Ariunzaya Enkhbayar heats thread while making soutache earrings during her lunch break in Erdenebulgan soum, Arkhangai province, Mongolia. Ariunzaya, who works full time for a government organization, says, “Working on soutache craft like this and sewing daalin [snuff bags] serve as meditation for me.”

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Gantulga Ankhaa, who is temporarily repairing bikes to earn an income, adjusts a bicycle rim in Erdenet city, Orkhon province, Mongolia. Since automobile traffic is suspended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, more people are riding bicycles to work. “Instead of sitting idly at home doing nothing just because the work is suspended,” Gantulga says, “it is important for a young person to keenly observe and be aware of what could be done given the circumstances of any given time, to be able to identify opportunities and to use them properly.”

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Batjargal Choijiljav carves a wooden horse at his home in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Batjargal, who has carved 14,400 wooden horses over his 25-year sculpting career, says a single mistake would be irreversible and make the sculpture worthless.

Arkhangai province

Lkhagvasuren Ulamnemekh pours candle wax into a mold after adding color and essential oil at her home in Mongolia’s Arkhangai province. Lkhagvasuren, who is a teacher, began making body scrubs, bath bombs, eco-soaps and other items during the coronavirus lockdown.

Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

Suvd Oyuntsetseg and other teachers and staff at Kindergarten No. 9 wash and disinfect playground equipment after a March 14 dust storm in Dalanzadgad, a city in Mongolia’s Umnugovi province.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Bilegtsaikhan Pagva makes a cutting board for cooking and kneading dough at his home workshop in Erdenet, a city in Mongolia’s Orkhon province. Bilegtsaikhan, who has stomach cancer, makes wooden kitchen tools as a healthier alternative to plastic. “No matter how serious one’s disease is, a person should not abandon his or her wishes and goals in life,” Bilegtsaikhan says with a smile. “One should work hard.”

Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Ochgerel Batbayar bottle-feeds a newborn goat at her home in Orkhon, a soum in Mongolia’s Bulgan province. “Sometimes I talk to them as if I am with my friends,” she says with a smile. “It seems to me that they understand my conversations.”

Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

Uuriintuya Tumenbayar knits using a traditional Mongolian method called zoos shiree suljmel, or coin table knitting, in Dalanzadgad, a city in Mongolia’s Umnugovi province. Uuriintuya, who was named the best craftswoman in Umnugovi province in 2019, promotes and teaches this method on her website, Ancestral Craft.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Nurse Baigalmaa Sukhbaatar tests Gantumur Naranmandmar for the coronavirus using a polymerase chain reaction test at School No. 133 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The government recommended that all essential workers get tested, and on this day, workers at this site tested as many as 1,000 citizens.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

From left, Munkh-Erdene Dalantai, Molor-Erdene Munkh-Erdene, Enkhzaya Bayanjargal and Enkhtsatsral Munkh-Erdene play shagai, a traditional Mongolian anklebone game, in Erdenet, a city in Mongolia’s Orkhon province. The object of the game is to make an alag melkhii, or multicolored turtle. The family plays shagai every night to temporarily distance the children from television and mobile phone screens.

Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

An abandoned camel, whose foot froze after it was left for 20 days without food on the side of a road, gets a foot massage from Suvdaa Tumurbaatar, left, and Zorigtbaatar Bolormaa in Umnugovi province, Mongolia. When Suvdaa heard about the injured camel, she brought it home and bandaged its foot with medicinal herbs and a melted butter called “shar tos.”

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tserenjav Uuganbat patrols the area around the Tolit secondary school to make sure citizens comply with lockdown measures during the strict quarantine in Songinokhairkhan, a district in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. Since there aren’t enough police officers to enforce the lockdown, 27,000 civil servants were brought in to help.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tamiraa Narantsatsral paints a recycled wine bottle at the Natsagdorj Library in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Tamiraa is part of a Facebook group, “Redesigned Fashion. Lifestyle,” that saves and redesigns recycled materials, like glass bottles and clothing, to promote environmentalism.

Bayandalai, Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

Gansukh Sharavsambuu carries fodder to a storage facility in southern Mongolia’s Umnugovi province. The animal feed will be provided to herders who are suffering from a dzud, a Mongolian term for a severe winter in which it is common for a large number of livestock to die.

Oyunsuvd Enkhbold, front, and Mishigsuren Namjil look through binoculars while on a date to a 10-meter-high observation tower in the forest known locally as Tujiin Nars, in Mongolia’s Selenge province. From 1986 to 2002, large fires destroyed 70% of the pine forest. After rehabilitation projects, 70,805 hectares (273 square miles) of the forest were restored. It’s now a national park.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Odgerel Bayasgalan paints his graduate thesis painting, a self-portrait titled, “My Story,” in his home in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Odgerel, 20, is in his last year in the painting program at the School of Fine Arts and Design at the Mongolian State University of Arts and Culture.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Terbish Munkhbayasgalan, left, a 12th grade student, and Gantulga Odonbyamba, in 10th grade, write in traditional Mongolian script during “Book Festival,” an event to encourage preservation of the script and traditional culture, in Erdenet, a city in Mongolia’s Orkhon province. Terbish and Gantulga both take an extracurricular class at school to practice this writing system.