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.

Erdenet, Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Tuvshinjargal Batsukh, an actress at the Children and Youth Theater in Orkhon province, reads books to children during a book festival held at Amar Square, in Erdenet, Mongolia. Tuvshinjargal participated to encourage parents to read to their children.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

To promote traditional Mongolian script through art, Sergelen Bayasgalan, left, and Togtuun Erdenebileg paint a poem in the script along with a portrait of the author, Rinchen Byambyn, a founder of modern Mongolian literature, on a wall in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The poem reads, “Although there are many beautiful places in this colorful universe / There is no place more beautiful than my native land / Although every language is great to study virtue / There is no greater language than our mother tongue.”

Khuvsgul, Mongolia

Ganbold Lkhamaa compresses cans and plastic bags and containers with a machine at his home in Mongolia’s Khuvsgul province. Since there isn’t a location to recycle waste in Khuvsgul, for the past 10 years Ganbold has bought recyclable waste to compress and transport to a recycling center in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city.

Murun, Khuvsgul Province, Mongolia

Erdenechimeg Enkhbat spots Uranbayar Delgermaa, 10, during a contortion class at the Contortion Center at the Children’s Palace in Murun, a city in Mongolia’s Khuvsgul province. According to a 2013 order from the Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, contortionism is on the national register of Mongolia’s intangible cultural heritages – and urgently needs to be preserved.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Gegeen Amgalan, 13, fills a bottle with lip gloss at her home in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Gegeen learned how to make lip gloss in March by watching videos online. She’s used her free time during the coronavirus pandemic to perfect her product, adding flower petals to change the flavors.

Bayandalai, Umnugovi, Mongolia

During a traditional ceremony, Buyandalai Ulambayar gallops on his horse while offering horse milk to the air with a tsatsal, a ceremonial wooden milk spoon, in Bayandalai soum, Umnugovi province, Mongolia. During the ceremony, he chants, “Tsegeend tsad,” which means, “May we have plenty of food!”

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Uranzaya Jamiyansuren tends vegetables in the greenhouse at her home in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Uranzaya and her neighbor Munkhbaatar Tsogzolmaa built the greenhouse three years ago to grow food for their families’ consumption.

Dalanzadgad, Umnugovi Province, Mongolia

Enkh-Erdene Amartuvshin, 2, plays with a baby gazelle at her home in Dalanzadgad, a district in Mongolia’s Umnugovi province. The family rescued the fawn after a dog killed its mother.