Photograph by Renée C. Byer

The hard-worked hands of Jacaba Coaquira, 80, holding the green beans she grew on her land. This year the production of her land was affected by lack of rain and early cold weather that froze the crops before they finished growing. Santiago de Okola, Bolivia.

At the Mae Tao Clinic this 5-month old child receives free medical care for her burns. The child pulled a pot of hot water on herself as she was being watched by her 11-year old sister while her parents farmed. Here, her father, Zaw Win, and another child anxiously hope for her recovery. Mae Sot, Thailand.

Phay Phanna, 60, lost his leg when he stepped on a land mine in 1988 near the Cambodian-Thai border. He is a widower and is the sole head of his family, caring for 11 children in a home he does not own. It has been scheduled for demolition since being purchased by a private developer in 2008. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Jestina Koko, 25, with her daughter Satta Quaye, 5. Crippled since the age of three, she depends on her arms to lift and drag herself. She survives by doing laundry for others, selling cookies on the street, and begging. Monrovia, Liberia.

Two small boys are dwarfed in the African bush as they try to herd cattle. They herd the cows from sunrise to sunset with no hope of ever attending school. The village of Dawa in the Volta Region of northern Ghana.

Lidia Potcovirova can’t afford to send her daughter, Anastasia, 4, to school so she often accompanies her mother to work in the fields. Fintinita, Moldova.

Three boys play on the bed their entire family shares. From the left are Ajit Kumar, 5, Dilip Kumar, 9, and Kuldeep Kumar, 10. The bed occupies their entire living space. Their home is located on a garbage dump. Kusum Pahari slum, South Delhi, India.

Kalpana, 20, has five children. She starves one of her children, two year-old Sangeeta, in order to better elicit the sympathy of others and raise more money through begging to feed the remainder of her family. At the time of this photo, Sangeeta weighed only nine pounds. She has since been helped by the The Tong-Len Charitable Trust’s medical clinic. Charan slum settlement, Dharamsala, India.

Source: http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014...