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.

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Ramón Torres makes shoes at his shop in downtown Guadalajara. Torres, 75, has worked in shoemaking since he was 8 years old. He has noticed that local shoe quality has declined over the years with the introduction of synthetic materials – although, he notes, prices have remained about the same.

Kampala, Uganda

Kamushwa Sunday, left, and Rubandamayonza Daniel cast a net into Lake Victoria, in Kampala, Uganda, where they hope to catch fish overnight.

Chihuahua, Mexico

The plaza outside the Cathedral of Chihuahua in Chihuahua, Mexico, usually bustles with older adults who pass time on the benches and families who come to shop at the mobile vendors. The plaza has been closed since November due to the spread of the coronavirus.

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

Ivette Gutiérrez makes a necklace at her workshop in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. Gutiérrez designs and creates clothing and accessories with recycled material. “Any piece of material, broken necklace or unworn dress,” she says, “can be turned into a piece of recycled art and have a new life.”

Tixtla de Guerrero, Mexico

Leonardo López Martínez cuts terciopelo and cempasúchil, also known as Mexican marigold, flowers to sell in Tixtla de Guerrero, a town in Mexico’s Guerrero state.

Mexico City, Mexico

Rubén Hernández Medina, 62, a public bus driver since the age of 18, lives with his wife and two children in Mexico City, Mexico. Since the coronavirus pandemic started, he’s lost 25 kilograms (55 pounds) because he sometimes skips meals so his children can eat more. Public transport ridership went down 75% due to school and office closures. “I’m going to ask God for this to change at least a little bit, even just 50% ... I think with that we’d be on the other side,” he says. “And I think that behind us there are people who are even worse off than we are. We complain, but we need to ask God to help them and to help us.”

Chihuahua, Mexico

Victor Olivas lifts weights outside a gym in Chihuahua, Mexico. Some gyms have reopened with outdoor activities in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown.

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Jacqueline Villarubia practices the drum at a small art studio in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. This drum is a key instrument in bomba, a genre of music with roots in Africa and now traditional to Puerto Rico. Villarubia wanted to understand the genre and decided to take private classes to learn the basics. She practiced a rhythm called calindá first, and later one called holandés, which is characteristic of Mayagüez, on the western part of the island.

San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico

Arturo Hernández makes a shawl with a homemade spinning wheel in San Pablo Villa de Mitla, a town in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. Hernández began to learn the art of weaving when he was seven years old. Today, he is a master Zapotec weaver.

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.

Moca, Puerto Rico

Ada Hernández works on a piece of mundillo lace in Moca, a town in western Puerto Rico. As she moves the bobbins, cotton threads intertwine to make the lace. The threads are then held in place with pins to maintain the spacing of the pattern. Hernández has been making mundillo lace for more than 50 years.

Cheddikulam, Sri Lanka

Chandran Sasikaran, left, and Tharmalingam Thileepan construct wire cages for the framework of a new shop in Cheddikulam, a small town in Sri Lanka’s Vavuniya province.

Santo Tomás Jalieza, Oaxaca, Mexico

Crispina Navarro weaves on a backstrap loom in Santo Tomás Jalieza, a town in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. In this southwestern community, girls learn to weave on these traditional looms from a young age.

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.

Kirumba, DRC

Mwindiki Victoire, left, and Héritier Mumbere plow a field to prepare to plant cassava in Kasando, a neighborhood in Kirumba, Democratic Republic of Congo. Most Kirumba residents grow cassava, which is a food staple.

James Kakuru spreads mud over wattle to construct a home in Kyarenga, a village in Uganda’s Isingiro district.

Harare, Zimbabwe

Robert Sango welds scrap metal to make a Scotch cart in Harare, Zimbabwe. Scotch carts are used to transport heavy loads. Sango, who has been in business for more than 10 years, says his major clients are farmers who buy after being paid for their produce, but because of a cash shortage in the country, business is in short supply.

Mexico City, Mexico

Luis Espinoza fixes his bicycle at Enchúlame la Bici (Beautify My Bike) a collective workshop in Mexico City, Mexico. The workshop was closed for almost six months to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. When it reopened, the workshop offered a class on basic bicycle maintenance and mechanics.

Harare, Zimbabwe

Chihuri Nyamwandura, left, and Isaac Mandaza drill a boulder in Harare, Zimbabwe. Homebuilders hired the pair to break down large rocks to prepare land for construction.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

The Papantla Flyers perform on a beach in Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination in Mexico’s Jalisco state. The group usually performs a theatrical representation of a renowned Totonac ritual dedicated to Tláloc, the god of rain.

Harare, Zimbabwe

Cobbler Evaristo Mupindi repairs a shoe at his business in Harare, Zimbabwe. Mupindi has been a cobbler since 1987 but has seen a sharp decline in customers this year due to the coronavirus.

Chihuahua, Mexico

Luis Melendez García carries wood through a construction site in Chihuahua, Mexico. As a laborer, Melendez has seen his livelihood affected by the spread of the coronavirus. “Where we’ve really been affected is with food,” he says. “They’ve stopped work on a lot of projects, so how are we supposed to eat, to feed the family?”

Harare, Zimbabwe

Stacie Mashaya, 12, writes in her notebook in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city. Schools were closed indefinitely due to the coronavirus, but Stacie's school opened to offer lessons for the students who are currently writing their year-seven exams.