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Portrait of a girl: Around the world in six portraits

A photo-essay by Marianna Leishman

A thousand miles away is a silhouette, of a girl, in the dust and the heat and the monsoons and the floods. She watches butterflies, camels, fireflies.  She hears bells, waterfalls, wings. She touches bamboo, hide, tusks. She tastes coconut milk, bananas, sticky rice. She smells incense, burning ghats, tiger balm, franja panis. This is her story in pictures.

	Bolivian Girls, Isla Del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. - These girls live on Isla Del Sol, the birthplace of the Incas, an island 9km by 6km on Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake at 3,810m above sea level. Isla Del Sol and Isla Del Luna (islands of the sun and moon) are dotted with Inca ruins, sacred rocks and magic sunsets.
Nomad girls, Zagros Mountains, Iran. - These girls live in a nomad village in the Zagros mountains, Iran's largest mountain range, with a total length of 1500 km from western Iran, specifically the Kurdistan region on the border with Iraq to the southern parts of the Persian Gulf.
	Woman at Markets, Cairo, Egypt. - A woman selling strawberries at a market stall in Cairo, Egypt. Cairo is often dubbed the Jewel of the Orient or the City of the Thousand Minarets. The largest city in Africa and the Middle East, Cairo offers the Nile and ancient cities of Memphis and Giza. The city is overflowing with perfumes, spices, belly dancing, and the smell of apple cinnamon aghiles.
Young Girl, Bovu Island, Zambia. - This girl lives in a polygamous family on Bovu Island, a small remote island accessible only by dug-out canoe on the Zambezi River. The island is filled with forest canopy, parrots, woodpeckers, vervet monkeys, butterflies, and dragonflies. The Zambezi is home to crocodiles and hippos.
	Girl selling lotus pods, Phnom Penh, Cambodia - A girl sells lotus pods on a streets of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. The commercial and political hub of Cambodia, Phnom Penh is the gateway to the killing fields, the ruins and temples of Angkor, and the jungles in the north.
Sleeping girl in hammock, Serendipity Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia - A young girl naps in a hammock strung by trees over the beach in the sleep tourist hangout of Serendipity beach, Sihanoukville, Southern Cambodia. The beach is lined with grass umbrellas, fairy lights and drink huts.

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