Guerrero, Mexico

Isidro Solano Bernardino makes control lines in the area’s ejido, or communal land, to prevent the spread of fires during this year’s fire season in the Llanos de Tepoxtepec community in Guerrero, Mexico. Solano leads the community’s unofficial fire brigade.

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.

Puebla, Mexico

Thaya Pithaya signs a mural she painted with fellow artist Mitthu on the wall of a home in the Jardines de San José neighborhood in Puebla, Mexico. The mural represents the role homes have played during the pandemic, and the refuges and spaces for discovery they have become.

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.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Susana Mondini, left, leads Silvia Squadrone, second from right, Ana María Buelta, right, and others in a yoga class for the elderly at Paseo de la Vida: Dr. René Favaloro, a park in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “I’ve been doing yoga for many years. My bones hurt if I don’t,” says Squadrone. “When the [COVID-19] outbreak happened, we did it by WhatsApp. But it’s different in person, especially here, where it’s so beautiful.”

Aguada Puerto Rico

Construction worker Eduardo Cabán helps restore Parroquia San Francisco Asís, the Catholic church in downtown Aguada, Puerto Rico. The church has been rebuilt multiple times since it was founded in 1692, and it’s undergoing a new restoration while church services are minimized due to the coronavirus.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Ramalingam Manoharan welds a curved iron roof for a well in Manipay, a town in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Manoharan has worked with iron for the past four years, and he earns between 1,500 and 2,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($8 to $10) per day.

Lusaka, Zambia

Wilson Simfukwe makes toy cars from used spray-paint cans alongside Thabo Mbeki Road in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. “I have sold more toys during the coronavirus pandemic than ever before, because children are usually home and they need to be kept busy,” Simfukwe says. “And these toys are durable, hence a lot of people love them compared to plastic toys.”

Puebla, Mexico

Edgar Ali Morán Alonso, right, and the other members of Zompantli, an ethno-electronica music and performance group, play their song “Chollolan” at the Archeological Zone of Tepalcayotl¬, in the Mexican state of Puebla. Zompantli collaborates with local artisans, who use ancestral knowledge to help design the band’s instruments.

Inuvil, Sri Lanka

Vigneswaran Vidushan collects beets from a gardener in Inuvil, a village in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He’ll transport the beets to an outer district market for 80 Sri Lankan rupees (40 cents) per bag.

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

Mario Ruíz Pérez, a licensed nurse, takes Martha Figueroa Mier’s blood pressure in the observation area following her vaccination at the Parque de Feria in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. Health care workers are administering the Sinovac vaccine to the elderly first, through a federal program called Operativo Correcaminos (Operation Roadrunner).

Boudha Nepal

Yeshe Thinley, a 16-year-old monk, prepares an altar for worship at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Boudha, Nepal. The altar holds a kudung, the body of a religious teacher believed to be sacred after they pass away. Kyabje Chokling Rinpoche died in December 2020, and his kudung will be kept in the monastery for one year so his pupils and disciples can pay their last respects.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Painter Sol Rivero uses a tree as her easel at Parque Rivadavia, a park in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rivero began to paint outside to share her creative process with the public and spread her name in new places.

Sancha Maya Limbu cleans the walls of the Bhimsen temple amid reconstruction work at Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur, Nepal. The temple was destroyed in the April 2015 earthquake. Reconstruction began in 2019 but was temporarily halted in 2020 due to COVID-19.

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.

Mexico City, Mexico

Rosalba Moreno takes pictures of her son’s dog, Dobby, during Schoener Club, a canine training session in downtown Mexico City. “It’s been difficult for him to learn to obey; he gets really distracted,” says Moreno, who has brought Dobby to five training sessions.

Harare, Zimbabwe

Twinbless Kutsiwa, 10, plays a game called nhodo in Harare, Zimbabwe. She places small pebbles in a hole, throws a bigger pebble in the air, then tries to pull the pebbles out of the hole in time to catch the bigger pebble.

Copoya Chiapas Mexico

María Elena Jiménez Tevera harvests cuchunuc flowers in front of her restaurant, Doña Mary, in Copoya, Chiapas, Mexico. Cuchunuc, an edible flower that blooms in the springtime, is used in dishes like quesadillas, pizza and baked tamales.

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.”

Masvingo Zimbabwe

While guarding his maize fields from monkeys, Tawanda Nyorovai passes the time by crushing stones to sell to builders in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. When the maize is ripe, monkeys become a nuisance because they search for food in the fields.

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.”

San Luis de Majimachi Chihuahua Mexico

María Catalina Nevaréz Cruz weaves a ware, a traditional Rarámuri basket made from the sotol plant, at her home in San Luis de Majimachi, a village in Chihuahua, Mexico. Only 35 people live in the village, all of whom are artisans. Every two weeks, they barter their handicrafts for food at the village’s trade center.

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.

Mannar, Sri Lanka

Seltan Maristala, 10, sells vegetables to her brother Seltan Mariyaruban, 12, at MN/Adampan R.C.T.M.S., a school in Sri Lanka’s Mannar district. The school hosts a market once a year to strengthen the students’ math, prediction, and discussion skills. They encourage parents and the community to participate.