The Mathematics of Miracles

For Liubov Reva, a 68-year-old mathematics teacher from Selydove, life’s equations grew increasingly complex. In her beloved mining town, she found joy in teaching, offering extra lessons to students who needed help, her dedication to education unwavering even after retirement.

The war’s arithmetic proved brutal. While 2022 remained calm, 2023 brought a devastating sum: all six of the town’s schools damaged by bombardments of various calibers, and Russian forces approaching their mining community. The solution was clear — evacuation by train.

In Kolonshchyna village, she found temporary shelter in a summer cooperative. “The conditions were decent, ” she recalls, “but we were afraid to turn on the heating in that empty place.” When news came about Chudo Village, she was literally speechless. “I went numb, couldn’t speak or understand. It took a day just to process what I’d heard.”

On December 18, 2024, Liubov moved into apartment 13.1A. “That first night, I couldn’t sleep, ” she remembers. “I spent hours examining everything in the house, the appliances. It felt like a fairy tale. The people here are God-sent, always asking what we need, always welcoming.”

Her mathematician’s wisdom shapes her advice to young people: “Learn to see joy in small things. Happiness isn’t always found in great achievements, but often in simple things — a child’s smile, the smell of fresh bread, or warm summer rain. Learn to value such moments.”

After video chatting with Dell Loy Hansen, she was moved by his attentiveness, empathy, and kindness. “Hansen is someone capable of giving in a way that returns a hundredfold, ” she observes. “Though we think more people could be given such an opportunity here.”

Now, the former mathematics teacher has found a new equation for happiness, signing up to work in the greenhouse. “I love flowers, ” she says simply. “This place is paradise — improvements would be redundant. We’re grateful for what we have.”

In Chudo Village, Liubov has discovered that sometimes the most beautiful solutions come not from mathematical formulas, but from the simple arithmetic of kindness.