Seunghwan usually works the night shift, during which he rides his motorcycle through Seoul, helping customers with everything from delivering their take-out orders to changing their light bulbs. Seunghwan shares a one-room apartment with his brother. View Flickr Album

Crew Members

• Samuel J. Queen, Director, Producer, Director of Photography, Camera Operator, Editor
• Rachel Gist, Producer/Camera Operator
• Jee Young Lee, Co-Producer/Community Liaison
• Michael Stulberg, Still Photographer
• Marisol Park, Community Liaison, Production Assistant
• Nayoung Jung, Community Liaison, Production Assistant
• Joel Elliott, Camera Operator
• Cole Quinlan, Camera Operator
• Minji Kim, Translation Coordinator
• Casey Baine, Translation Coordinator
• Lainy Cho, Translation Coordinator
• Ella Suh, Translation Coordinator
• Joohee Yoo, Translator
• Haerim Nam, Translator
• June Song, Translator
• Casey Yang, Translator
• Alexandra Urban, Translator
• Ji Oh Yoo, Translator
• Ye Jin Lee, Translator
• Dong Kook Jang, Translator
• Lingyu Gu, Translator
• HongKyung Kim, Translator
• Grace Kim, Translator
• Andie Kim, Translator
• Hyerin Lee, Translator
• Hannah Yi, Translator

Prakash is a public school bus driver in New Delhi, India. He drops students off at school every morning, and drives them home every afternoon when the school day ends. After Prakash finishes transporting students to and from school, he heads home to Najafgarh, a town on the outskirts of Delhi. He spends the rest of the day with his wife, sons, and beloved grandchildren, all of whom are part of the Jat community – an ancient community that has been part of Indian history for many generations. View Flickr Album 

Crew Members

• Rintu Thomas, Producer
• Shijo George, Director
• Amitesh Singhal, Production Manager
• Sagar Kaul, Still Photographer
• Karan Thapliyal, Director of Photography
• Deepak Kumar, Director of Photography
• Farrukh Raza, Sound Technician
• Mithun Singh, Camera Assistant
• Rajkumar Singh, Camera Assistant
• Puneet Prakash Bharadwaj, Camera Assistant
• Vikas Malhotra, Editor
• Haritha Kuriakose, Translator
• Nitya Rajagopal, Translator
• Vandana Parankusam, Translator

For 19 years, Ivan Montaño has been hauling debris such as discarded cement, scrap metal, wood and sod to a central dumping area using a horse and cart. Despite complaints from residents that the dumping area is unsightly, Ivan remains positive about his future.

Crew Members

• Claudia Quigua, Producer, Co-Director, Translator
• Diego Eraso, Co-Director, Camera Operator
• Carlos A. Sanchez, Camera Operator, Director Assistant
• Carlos H. Tofiño, Camera Operator, Editor
• Daniel F. Gomez, Camera Operator, Photographer
• Harvey Paz, Production Assistant, Sound Assistant
• Nelson Gomez, Still Photographer, Production Assistant, Translator
• Claire-Marie Dubois, Translator
• Lina Marcela Rodriguez, Translator
• Mario Granada, Translator
• Jorge Giraldo, Translator
• Diego Eraso, Translator
• Lucy Hoag, Translator
• Lisa Kraft, Translator
• Anahí Zitare, Translator
• Alejandra Salazar, Translator
• Alvaro Bueno, Translator
• Liza Lopez, Translator
• Alexandra Patino, Translator
• Weronika Dziadosz, Translator
• Autumn Linn, Translator
• Jordan Alder, Translator

Mingmar lives with his wife and three children in a remote village of Nepal near the Tibetan border. His primary income comes from gathering and selling yartsa gunbu, a fungus that grows on caterpillars and is believed to have aphrodisiac properties, between late March and May. View Flickr Album About the Crew

Crew Members

• Rinzin Lama, Director, Producer, Camera Operator, Translator
• Andrew Mahlstedt, Still Photographer
• Dawa Yakpa, Camera Operator, Data Manager
• Yog Shakya, Primary Camera Operator
• Tenzin Norbu, Production Assistant
• Ravi Shrestha, Sound Editor
• Karma Ghale, Translation Coordinator
• Santa Bahadur Tamang, Camping Cook
• Arjun Magar, Assistant Cook
• Tenzin Norbu, Production Assistant
• AThepe Tamang, Production Assistant
• Maila Tamang, Camping Porter
• Santosh, Camping Porter
• Jit Bahadur Gurung, Camping Porter
• Kancha Tamang, Camping Porter
• Dipika Gurung, Translation Coordinator
• Dr Tsewang Gyurmey Gurung, Translator
• Manish Nakarm Nakarmi, Translator
• Pema Nurbu Nurbu, Translator
• Karma Ghale, Translator
• Rinzin Lama, Translator
• Namgyal Ngodup, Translator
• Gelek Gyatso, Translator
• Claire-Marie Dubois, Translator

Ruixian works as a long distance train attendant on the K165 train line that runs from Xi'an to Kuming, China. Her shifts usually require her to ride the train for the entire length of the line, which means traveling overnight 35 hours each direction. She lives in an apartment with her husband and her 7-year-old son. View Flickr Album

Crew Members

• Ruhi Moran, Producer
• Guo Qinhua, Director, Editor, Translator
• David Calvin Berg, Production Assistant
• Nobuhiro Awata, Camera Operator
• Xavier Camprecios Presas, Camera Operator, Audio Engineer
• Zhi Pengbo, Camera Operator
• Christopher Lay, Still Photographer
• Deborah Howard, Still Photographer
• Zhou Ziqi, Still Photographer, Production Assistant
• Mark Moran, Editor
• Du Rui, Production Assistant, Translator
• Hao Qihua, Production Assistant, Translator
• Chen Sudan, Camera Operator, Audio Engineer
• Gu Yimeng, Camera Operator, Audio Engineer, Translator
• Xv Tingting, Camera Operator, Lighting, Translator
• Yang Jingjing, Camera Operator, Lighting, Translator
• Li Xiaojie, Still Photographer, Translator
• Li Yan, Video Still Photographer, Translator
• Xie Rian, Video Editor, Translator
• Bao Xiongrui, Editor, Translator
• Jesus Garcia, Editor
• Xavier Brodnax, Translation Coordinator
• Kailin Zhou, Translation Coordinator
• Rebecca Wang, Translation Coordinator
• Linda Zheng, Translation Coordinator
• Rose Wang, Translation Coordinator
• Smin Na, Translation Coordinator
• Gaby Wu, Translation Coordinator
• Jacqueline Xu, Translation Coordinator
• Dong Huimin, Translator
• Chu Shujuan, Translator
• Zhang Hengjun, Translator
• Lin Ting, Translator
• Liu Yunfei, Translator
• Wu Yujie, Translator
• William Fisher, Translator
• Fang Gao, Translator
• Yiqun Wu, Translator
• Constance Xu, Translator
• Kaizin Zhong, Translator
• Ruhi Zandra, Translator
• Constance Xu, Translator
• Kaixin Zhong, Translator

Dadah is a mother of three from Sarimukti, a Sundanese village in the highlands of West Java. She and her husband are farm workers on a state-owned plantation that dates back to Dutch colonial days. They are practicing Muslims and active members of the Pasundan Farmers’ Union, which lobbies for both land re-distribution among farmers and children's education. She was 32 years old during her Global Lives Project shoot in 2008. View Flickr Album

Born from a Lebanese mother and a Palestinian father, Jamila Jad inherited the nationality of her father. She is one of 400,000 officially registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Jamila was born and raised in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, where she attends public school and dreams of becoming a doctor. The oldest of four children, Jamila shoulders many responsibilities at home. Her father has been fighting Hepatitis C, and her mother works a cleaning job to keep the family afloat. At the time of her Global Lives Project shoot in 2009, Jamila was nine years old.

Dušan Lazić turned to beekeeping in 2004 after having difficulty finding work as an engineer. He lives in Vojka, Serbia. Born in 1942, he has experienced firsthand many of the tumultuous events that have shaped modern East European history, including the rise and fall of communism, the Yugoslav wars, and Serbian independence. In the evenings, Dušan sings and plays percussion with his friends in a pop-rock cover band called Time Machine. Contextual Essay View Flickr Album

Zhanna Dosmailova has grown up in an orphanage, though she is not an orphan herself. Her mother is the orphanage's director, and her father is its driver and maintenance manager. They live in Vannovka, in Southern Kazakhstan, near the Tien Shan mountains. Five-year-old Zhanna and her two older brothers often play Wii and other games with the orphans, many of whom are Russian. She begins school in 2010.

View Flickr Album

Kai Liu grew up in a small village in rural Sichuan, China. After marrying Delian, they migrated to Anren— a “national key town,” 25 miles from the city of Chengdu—where they found work and lodging managing a convenience store. They have one daughter, and much of their resources are devoted to providing for her education. Kai works a second job as a purchasing officer at Anren middle school where he manages the procurement of food for the school's 2600 students. He was 37 years old during his 2008 Global Lives Project shoot. This video was produced by Ya-Hsuan Huang, Yi Han, Nobuhiro Awata, Irene Herrera, Bastien Robilliard, Hiroko Sumikura, Fang Liang, David Evan Harris, Chieko Kato, Major Tian, and Christina Liu. View Flickr Album

Rumi Nagashima was born in 1984 in Higashi-Koganei, a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. At the time of the Global Lives Project shoot, she was about to graduate from Atomi University with a degree in Management Studies, and had a job lined-up with Fujitsu as a systems engineer. Due to an accident in 2005, she lost the use of her right leg. Although Rumi can walk, she still uses a wheelchair to travel long distances. She has served as a Girl Scout mentor and has also lobbied towards the development of barrier-free cities that increase accessibility for the physically challenged.

Despite leaving school at age twelve due to financial constraints, Muttu Kumar speaks Hindi, Kannada, English, and a fair bit of French. These skills are central to his work as a tour guide and postcard salesman in Hampi, India — where the architectural achievements of the Vijaynagar Empire have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Muttu was 18 years old at the time of his Global Lives Project shoot. He works to support himself and his family, who live in a village two miles from the town. View Flickr Album

Edith Kaphuka was a 13-year-old student at Domasi Mission Primary School in Zomba District, Malawi during her Global Lives Project shoot in 2007. The oldest of four girls, Edith has many responsibilities at her home in Ngwale Village, such as fetching water, cleaning the dishes, and gardening. Her little sister, Memory, is her best friend; when the two are together, they are nearly inseparable. While Edith and her family are Yao, they more readily speak Chichewa, Malawi's national language. Produced by Jason J. Price and Ya-Hsuan Huang View Flickr Album

Israel, better known by his nickname “Rael” in Portuguese, was born and raised in the city of São Paulo. He is a musician and leads a hip hop group called “Pentagono” based in the southern periphery of the city. At eight years old, Rael was already a fan of break dance. He would dance with his brother in the city center and at school talent shows. His father is also a musician and influenced Rael’s tastes strongly, although he continues to believe that hip hop is not actually music. He prefers traditional Brazilian “Forro” and “Sertaneja” music, two styles popular in the far off Brazilian northeast, where he was born. Since the beginning of 2006, Rael has been working as a City Permit Inspector, working to prevent illegal street commerce in public right-of-ways. Rael also enjoys playing soccer with friends and going out with his girlfriend. View Flickr Album

James Bullock was born in North Carolina, but grew up in Virginia. Both his parents were factory workers. James moved to San Diego in 1968 to serve as a medic in the Marine Corps. He then shifted to San Francisco in 1971, where he married his wife Nina, a construction forewoman. James has worked in public transportation for more than 30 years, and for more than 25 years as a cable car gripman. Videotaped in 2004, he was the first Global Lives subject. About the Crew