A girl flies a kite in the afternoon in Dhaka, Bangladesh on August 3, 2022. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

A girl goes to school just before sunrise in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, December 11, 2019. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Girls during a class at the Teire Irish dance school in Moscow, Russia on March 15, 2019. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/TASS)

Girls enjoy nice weather at a park in front of the Pothonggang Department Store in central Pyongyang October 11, 2015. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A girl feeds a squirrel in Bolivar Square, in Caracas, Venezuela on June 4, 2024. (Photo by Gaby Oraa/Reuters)

A physically challenged girl looks at her brother as she is kept in a basin to seek alms from people on the street in Kano, Nigeria December 30, 2015. The girl has suffered from her condition since birth. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Sun Jifa, a farmer in China, had his life changed forever when an explosive he planned on using for fishing went off prematurely. He lost his arms and when he couldn’t afford high-end, hospital-made prosthetics he opted for a cheaper set. Finding those to be less than acceptable, Sun started building his own pair of arms, which he currently wears. It’s an incredible story of ingenuity and personal strength.

Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.