Nertil Marcelin, leader of a community group, distributes machetes to residents in an initiative to resist gangs seeking to take control of their neighborhood, in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, May 13, 2023. (Photo by Joseph Odelyn/AP Photo)

Festival goers participate in a dance class on embracing kinetic intimacy in the dance shala a the Oregon Eclipse Festival, August 20, 2017, at Big Summit Prairie ranch in Oregon' s Ochoco National Forest near the city of Mitchell ahead of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)

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”.

A policeman jumps as he tried to avoid a tear gas grenade thrown back towards police by protesters in the Mathare neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Kenyans angered by the rising cost of living were back protesting on the streets of the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday, as they awaited a speech by a longtime opposition leader. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

Romanian riot police detain a man, face covered in blood, after minor clashes erupted during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, February 2, 2017. Brief clashes broke out between protesters and police in Romania¹s capital, as tens of thousands of people protested for the second night a government decision to decriminalise official misconduct. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

A demonstrator sits on the roadway during a protest against police brutality against minorities, in New York April 14, 2015. Protesters angered by fresh cases of police violence against unarmed black men in the United States gathered on Tuesday in New York City in a protest organized by the group “Stop Mass Incarceration Network” hoping to invigorate a national discussion on the thorny issue. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

A model presents a creation by designer Andreas Kronthaler as part of his Fall-Winter 2023/2024 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for late designer Vivienne Westwood's namesake label during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France on March 4, 2023. (Photo by Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)

Xiren Wang, Lili Wat, and Sitong Chen join the pageant’s opening routine, dancing to “The Boys”, a song by K-Pop group «Girls’ Generation». While the women come from a range of professional backgrounds – including economics, nursing, and acting – every contestant is looking for her big break into the entertainment industry. Most contestants said they would prefer to have a career in the U.S. but would go wherever the opportunity lies. (Photo and caption by John Brecher/Sahra Vang Nguyen/NBC News)