Ayat walks along the mountain roads of northern Dagestan, a Republic of Russia in the Caucasus. Ayat is a relatively new convert to Salafism and was visiting her family which is of the Sufi faith---two takes on Islam that are often at war with each other in Dagestan.

Bassel Barhoum hugs his mother Jamila Marshid during his brother's funeral in the village of Daqaqa in Latakia Province, Syria. Abu Layth died while fighting for the Syrian Army. Andrea Bruce/ For the NYTimes 30148013A

Sadaf Rahimi practices in her Kabul gym at the Olympic Stadium to prepare for the Olympics (Photo by Andrea Bruce/ Noor Images for Time)

Erbil, Iraq - Teens smoke sheesha in the upscale neighborhood of "Dream City" in Erbil. Kurds in Iraq like to think of themselves as something completely distinct from the rest of Iraq--different than the Iraq of inflamed descent and sectarian issues. Foreign investor's interest in Kurdistan's oil has made this difference visible in the rich facade one can see daily in cities like Erbil.

Afghan women and children mourn the loss of family members, who were killed in a raid by U.S. Special Forces, near Jalalabad, Afghanistan on May 16, 2010. In May of 2010, U.S. Special Operations forces claimed they killed several insurgents in this village, just outside Jalalabad in the Nangahar District of eastern Afghanistan. But family members of the nine people killed say the massacre was unwarranted, and local Afghan officials complain that the raid left Afghan police in the dark. They attempted to respond to the raid, thinking it was a Taliban attack, and were targeted as well. Local support for women and children inside the village was prevented for several hours.

Aman Mojadidi, 41, artist. "Afghanistan definitely didn?t seem like home per se but it was very much this place where my family was from, and I still had this very strong kind of sense of having an Afghan identity ? it makes me kind of understand more my American identity. It's funny ... [it took] growing up in the U.S. to feel Afghan and it took living in Afghanistan to feel American. "I think probably by far one of my favorite ones [art projects], yeah, was the pay back, which was basically a fake checkpoint set up on the street in Kabul where we offered money back to some vehicles rather than asking for bribes ? trying to take something that a lot of people spoke about all the time, which was the corruption, the bribes that they have to pay and all this kind of stuff and turn it into, you know, an art work and kind of flip it on its head."

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry attend a briefing at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 3, 2010.

Models sip wine at a fashion show after party in Lahore.

Nebaj, Guatemala Jacinta Ramirez Brito, 43, prays for the safety of her family and Cecilia in her small tin-roof home in El Paraiso.

A Chechen refugee is frightened during a Russian police visit to the refugee camp where she lives.

A man walks with his child on the streets of Mountain View in Kingston, Jamaica. Improvements have been made to curb the violence that has troubled Kingston, Jamaica. Small businesses have opened and people are adding to their homes, thinking of the future, for the first time in decades. (Andrea Bruce/ for The New York Times)

Puja tends to goats in her home village, hours from Peepli Khera. Premwati's daughter-in-law, Puja, was taken from her husband and brought back to her home village due to the shame brought to her by the village and Premwati's desire to continue working.

Ameen Hatab, 21 After working as a day laborer in Sadr City, Ameen comes home to feed and train his pigeons--a hobby he has had since he was five years old. "I forget about the street and the crowd," he said about the homing pigeons. "They are loyal and beautiful." (photo by Andrea Bruce)

Folk artist Misri Jogi charms python snakes. His community, located just outside the southern Pakistani city of Umerkot, specializes in snake charming.

Women pack the classes at Sao Paulo University business school.

Martha Mesquita da Rocha is the Chief of Civil Police for the entire state of Rio de Janeiro. She commands over 12,000 male and female officers and is the first woman to be the chief of police in Brazil.

India, Bangalore, 07 August 2016 Ran, one of the factory girls, stands on the roof of her dorm. India is trying to transform itself into a manufacturing economy, and for this, it must find workers. In this case, workers have been brought here at government expense from remote villages, from a population that has never before been thrust into the economy: unmarried women. Andrea Bruce / NOOR

Kenya, Amboseli, 07 December 2017 Hariet Sainapei participates in a type of pageant and nighttime celebration as part of an alternative rights of passage ceremony. In the Maasai village of Lenkisem, girls between 9-16 participate in a two-day ceremony that brings girls from surrounding villages to one school. They bonded while being educated on their basic rights and why FGM (female genital mutilation) is unhealthy. They celebrated womanhood with dance, song and pageantry, and, in the end, were recognized by their community, a local NGO and village elders. This is one of dozens of approaches, by local communities and grassroots NGOs, to re-imagine the teenage right of passage and replace the widely practiced FGM ceremonies that are traditionally held in Maasai culture. Andrea Bruce / NOOR