The Mathematics of Survival: A Teacher’s Tale

From a village curiously named New York in Donetsk region, Nina Tereshchenko, 76, spent her life solving equations of a different kind. Her childhood dream of becoming a teacher blossomed into a career in education, where she served as both a mathematics teacher and deputy principal. Even in retirement, she continued tutoring, adding a bit of commerce to help make ends meet.

The arithmetic of war proved brutal. Living near Horlivka, their community had long calculated survival in terms of explosion distances and shelter depths. When phosphorus bombs entered the equation, Nina knew it was time to flee. “We had equipped our basement with electricity and water, ” she recalls, “but that couldn’t be a long-term solution. The constant fear, sleepless nights, anxiety — it all became unbearable.”

March brought evacuation to the Rivne region, where she found temporary shelter in a teacher training institute. Life there presented its own challenges: dormitory living, no furniture, a third-floor room with the kitchen two floors below. When told her contract wouldn’t be renewed, the retired mathematician faced another critical variable in her survival equation.

The call from the foundation brought tears — a solution she’d waited for through long days of volunteering and keeping busy. On December 16, 2024, Nina moved into apartment 7B.4B at Senior Chudo Village. Despite living with a congenital heart condition and blood pressure issues, she’s found peace in the well-planned cottages where “every detail is thought out for convenience.”

“Life is constant learning, ” she advises younger generations. “The main thing is to never stop developing and to be kind to people.”

To Dell Loy Hansen, the mathematician speaks with precision: “Hansen isn’t just helping — he’s changing destinies. His mission gave us elderly displaced persons a second chance. This isn’t just a roof over our heads; it’s a community, support, understanding.”

Now, while mobility around the village can be challenging for elderly residents, Nina continues solving equations of a different sort — helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine and offering mathematics tutoring to fellow residents and their children. Her goal remains simple: “To live as I live now, and rejoice in each day.”

From New York, Ukraine to her new haven, this teacher continues proving that even in life’s most complex equations, solutions can be found.