Afghani Women Were About to Deliver a Child In the Desert. What Happened Next Is Incredible.

Two figures in burkas of cerulean blue stand out against a desolate landscape in Afghanistan. Framed against dusty peaks, one woman faces the camera as the other unrolls a blanket on the ground. Photographer Lynsey Addario, on assignment for National Geographic, stopped short as she and her translator came upon the scene: In Badakhshan Province, women are rarely seen without a man.

But there they were, a mother preparing to deliver the child of her daughter, whose husband had  gone to get help when their car broke down on the way to the hospital. Happily, Addario was able to ferry the family to a medical facility a few hours away, where the young woman had a healthy baby girl.

Photograph by Lynsey Addario from Getty Images reportage