Mothers and daughters

Bidaa Mhem Thabet al-Hasan (Um Suleiman), 39, poses with her daughter Mariam Khaled Masto, 9, outside their home in Deir al-Zor, Syria.

Bidaa is the director of a school founded by a group of teachers and volunteers. When she was younger she was interested in science and her ambition was to become a gynaecologist. However, due to family difficulties she dropped school after completing the baccalaureate. She eventually finished her education in 2010.

Bidaa hopes that her daughter will study pharmacy, but says that she will let her follow her own ambitions. She says her daughter’s success will make her happy.

Mariam will finish her education in 13 years. She would like to become an Arabic teacher in Deir al-Zor.

Claire Coyne, 43, poses for a photograph with her daughter Ella, 10, at their home in Shepshed, central England.

Claire, an assistant banker at Coutts, studied until she was 15. Her ambition as a child was to be a Physical Education (P.E) teacher. She said that she doesn’t mind what her daughter becomes, as long as she enjoys herself.

Ella hasn’t thought about when she will finish education yet, but says that she might like to go to university. She’s not sure what she would like to do when she grows up, but probably wants to be a dance teacher.

Tadjroshan, 40, poses for a photograph with her daughter Ayman, 12, at their house in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Tadjroshan said that she only went to school for two years, just long enough to learn to read the Koran. She then continued to practice reading at home and she now teaches the Koran to local girls.

She would like her daughter to fulfill her dream and go to university. Ayman wants to become a doctor, and hopes that her parents will fund her study. She will need to study for 17 more years to become a general practitioner.

Oumou Ndiaye, 30, and her daughter Aissata Golfa, 9, pose for a picture in their house in Bamako, Mali.

Oumou, who is a housewife, did not go to school. As a child she hoped to marry a local businessman. She hopes her daughter will marry someone from their ethnic group when she grows up, and that she will stay in education until she is 20 years old.

Aissata says that she will finish school when she is 18, and wants to be a schoolteacher.

Tahsiye Ozyilmaz, 33, and her daughter Halime, 14, pose for a photograph at their home in Zeytinpinar Village of Derik, a Kurdish town in Mardin Province, Turkey.

Tahsiye, who is a housewife, didn’t go to school. She says would have liked to become a teacher, but she had an arranged marriage at the age of 17. She wants her daughter to finish her education, and would like her to become a doctor.

Halime stopped going to school last year because it was 10 km (6.2 miles) from her house and the journey was too difficult.

The 14-year-old says she would have liked to become a doctor but now this is impossible. She thinks she will have an arranged marriage when she is 17 or 18, like her mother did.

Lucia Mayta, 43, and her daughter Luz Cecilia, 12, pose for a photograph inside their bodega in La Paz, Bolivia.

Lucia studied until the fourth grade of primary school, and knows how to read, write and do basic math.

She runs a bodega, and the family live in a back room. Lucia hopes to build a house in the future. Luz Cecilia is in 7th grade and wants to be a singer.

Kang Hyun-jeong, 43, and her daughter Yoo Ha-min, 11, pose for a photograph in the living room of their apartment in Seoul, South Korea.

Kang Hyun-jeong has a job in accounts. She says that she started working in her senior year of high school, but she began a business degree in 1999 at the Korea National Open University because she wanted to study more.

She juggled work and classes and graduated eight years later in 2007. She hopes to get a masters degree when her children grow up.

Kang Hyun-jeong says her children are talented in the arts but she knows that it is difficult to make money in this field. She’s worried about that, but still wants to root for their dreams.

Her daughter Yoo Ha-min says she wants to be a designer or a painter when she grows up.

Denise Arthur, 52, and her daughter Linnaea Thibedeau, 13, pose for a photograph at their home near Blackhawk, Colorado, United States.

Denise is a restoration ecologist. She has a Ph.D and finished her education at age 34. Her ambition as a child was to be an animal behaviorist like Jane Goodall.

Denise hopes her daughter Linnaea will be a biologist when she grows up. Linnaea would like to get a Ph.D and become a marine biologist.

Thozama Kala, 30, and her daughter Mpho, 9, pose for a photograph in the kitchen of their home in Cape Town’s Langa township, South Africa.

Thozama is studying office management after matriculating in 2002. She hopes that her daughter will become a doctor. Mpho says she wants to be a teacher.