Lizzie's blog: Arriving in Musoma

MUSOMA, Tanzania (CNN) -- Lizzie Cameron is in Musoma, Tanzania working with the Musoma Engineering Project.

The Musoma Engineering Project is the only charity of its kind in the region and aims to provide teaching and support for local disabled children and teenagers.

With this project, Lizzie will be helping support teachers with dressmaking, woodworking and leatherwork, as well as setting up a Web site, fundraising and campaigning for those with disabilities in the Mara region of Tanzania. Follow her experiences in her blogs and video diaries.

September 5, 2007
It's September 5 and I've finally made it to Musoma after three days traveling. I'm really relieved to have reached here safely.

Before I left, I had filled my head with all these awful things that could happen to me on the way; getting stuck at customs, being stranded in a foreign airport with no one to collect me, losing all my luggage, etc. But thankfully it all went reasonably smoothly with only a few minor hiccups.

After flying through Dubai, I arrived in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, where I spent a day and night. It's a large city and quite westernized, but it still has areas of real poverty.

I was advised by the hotel not to take any valuable possessions with me when taking a walk down to the beach, as there's a history of a lot of muggings. Walking around the area did make me feel quite vulnerable, and people were inquisitive, but this is something I'm going to have to get used to.

The following day I took a small internal flight to Mwanza. While waiting at the airport I met a lovely lady named Sister Dominca who has been living in Tanzania for over 10 years, working and helping disadvantaged children, mainly suffering from AIDS. It was great to hear her experiences and her advise to me before reaching Musoma.

Arriving in Mwanza, I was greeted by Dennis (one of my hosts) and two of his friends. I instantly knew I was in safe hands.

Dennis speaks great English and answered any concerns I had. We went for dinner and then stayed in a hotel in Mwanza that evening. The next morning we drove around the city and picked up some things that Dennis was not able to get in Musoma. We also went to a local market which was amazing. There were just stalls and stalls of fresh fruit, spices, material, meats of all descriptions.

On the journey to Musoma we passed through many small villages where it became really apparent how poor the people are. Many houses had been built by hand out of mud and it was clear that children walk for miles to get to school.

Dennis mentioned that it was a priority for him to help and educate disabled children in these rural areas, as it is difficult or impossible for them to travel to attend school.

I haven't started work yet as I'm waiting for my work permit to process, but having talked to Dennis there's lots of things I can start thinking about.

The main areas he wants my help in are setting up a Web site, fundraising and writing proposals to organizations, trying to get them to support The Musoma Engineering Project.

Many children here become deaf and blind after contracting malaria and meningitis as babies. He wants to educate parents on how to treat children with these diseases to prevent them from losing their sight and hearing. We are going to think of ways to make this information readily available to the rural areas of Musoma.

In addition, there's helping out where I can in the workshops and thinking of new products that we can teach the children to make. E-mail to a friend