“It’s hard to start this story without acknowledging the two recent devastating earthquakes that have taken so many lives in Nepal,” deputy photography director Ken Geiger tells me as we sit down to talk about the Newar people of Kathmandu Valley, who have a fascinating cultural tradition—worshipping little girls whom they believe are the earthly embodiments of deities.

Geiger recently teamed up with writer Isabella Tree and photographer Stephanie Sinclair to tell the story of Nepal’s kumaris, or living goddesses, for the June issue of National Geographic June issue of National Geographic.

Fortunately, Tree was able to confirm that the kumaris they documented survived both quakes, as did their residences, even as buildings and temples came down