Haley ’25, Sophie ’25, and Hayden ’25 reflect on the meaningful connections they’ve made and the difficulties of saying goodbye.
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” – Winnie the Pooh.
The final day in Tanzania had arrived, and none of us were truly ready to leave. It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to the Mainsprings girls after forming such strong connections and bonds with them. We have all fallen in love with Africa, Tanzania, Mainsprings, and all the girls which made leaving all the more difficult, but the majority of us have made hopeful remarks of returning one day. This has been such a remarkable and rewarding experience, and one that many of us want to participate in again. I am incredibly sad that our time in Tanzania has come to an end, but I am even happier that it has happened.
The past 24 hours have been filled with so many lasts, each one being harder than the one before it. Our final night held the last prayer and dinner with the girls, the last trip to papa’s for our closing ceremony, the last time being all together in the Ukwaju house, but the hardest last was the final goodbye with the girls. And you can’t forget the last wake up call from Mr. Emerson, the lights turned on at 4:30 am everyone let out a collective groan then got out of bed to get ready and bring our luggage down to the bus, but when we got down to the bus there was a surprise awaiting us. We all thought our final goodbye with the girls was the night before, but there they were waiting for us by our bus at 5 in the morning to see us off for our day of travel. Each one of them greeted us with a warm smile and open arms. Wishing us good luck with everything and we expressing our gratitude for them in return. We all came together for one last group hug and everyone embraced each other and exchanged “I love you” and “I am going to miss you”. As the bus drove away from the campus and I looked out the window and waved goodbye, I was extremely grateful for every single moment of the trip and everything it had taught me, and I felt lucky to have made such impactful connections that it made saying goodbye so hard.
The travel days on the way to Tanzania were filled with anxious excitement to be in Mainsprings and meet the girls and now leaving Tanzania our plane rides are filled with reminiscing on the friendships and memories that were made over our week and a half stay. We have spent our time looking at all our pictures from the trip and recalling our favorite moments with the girls. Each and every one of us have taken away something from this experience, whether it is a new perspective, inspiration, friendships or knowledge. We all have something to share with you all when we return back to the states and we can’t wait to tell you about our absolutely incredible trip!!
-Haley ’25
Today is our last day with the Mainsprings crew, and with heavy hearts, at 4:00 AM, we bid them adieu. With tears in our eyes, giving (and receiving) big hugs, we all lugged ourselves into the van to ride to the airport. As one of ten school groups that visit Mainsprings per year, I can’t imagine how hard it must be for the girls to make such close connections with other kids their age and then say goodbye so soon. I only spent a little over a week with them, but the memories that I made and the joy that I felt with the girls is something that will last for the rest of my life. As I write this in the Dubai airport, waiting for my last flight to New York, I realize that if I could take all of them with me and soak up more time with them I would. Being able to make new friends around your age, living halfway across the globe is such a unique and incredible opportunity that I am so lucky I was given. The Mainsprings team and girls showed me endless kindness, unwavering faith, and extended their hearts of gold to everyone around them. I wish I could spend more time with Jonas, Shuku, the Maasai, the girls, Lazaro, the Mamas, and everyone in the community.
If this trip taught me anything, it was that people can come from completely different parts of the world with completely different upbringings and still make meaningful and lifelong connections with each other. So as short and bittersweet goodbyes came to all of us from Deerfield and Mainsprings today, a beautiful beginning of long-lasting friendships began. While we are now away from our new Tanzanian friends, we know that the times we had together will remain with us for the rest of our lives and will continue to inspire us to be better and more positive people. We love you Mainsprings!
-Sophie ’25
As this trip comes to an end, I have to admit, this was one of the most eye-opening, incredible experiences I’ve ever had. In the beginning, I was so nervous and didn’t know what to expect going to a new country and new continent. The first day I walked into Mainsprings, I felt as though this town, this country, was so vibrant and colorful that the states seemed only black and white. I remember my group talking about this during the first rotation, which was cooking. The other rotations were very interesting, playing games with the kids and farming, or in our case, bringing manure down a hill.
Meeting the girls was so heartwarming, especially when we met them for reading buddies and they grabbed my hands. One of my favorite experiences, although it’s immensely difficult to choose, was the morning runs. Despite only going twice, I felt incredible; and, the sunrise only added to such a good time. Additionally, the Serengeti was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I remember Chas describing the grass plains as similar to the ocean and how it never ended, which in Swahili, Serengeti means endless plains. I felt as though I was living in a new universe and the animals were just amazing.
This trip has also completely altered and widened my perspective on education and daily life. I kept thinking about a “savior” or “mission” trip and the morality of service trips. I talked with others on the trip and I came to my personal conclusion that it was a mutually beneficial experience. We learned so much about Tanzanian culture, and the people we met learned about American culture. However, I also learned that perspective has a lot to do with access to education because the government school, to me, seemed underdeveloped, but I saw that many kids enjoyed going to school there. I feel like I gained a grasp of access and desire to/for education. I felt like I learned so much about the philosophy of education. The friends I made during the trip are something I am so grateful for because we spent so much time together, I feel like we had a lot of personal growth along the way.
-Hayden ’25
