A STUDENT has been on an African adventure.

Nikita Holmes travelled from Bolton to Botswana to work with the Basarwa people.

The third-year community studies student at the University of Bolton spent three months volunteering with the tribe in the town of Kang near the Kalahari Desert, promoting equal rights and HIV awareness.

Nikita is now writing her dissertation about the experience and the plight of the Basarwa community — traditionally hunter-gatherers who originate from their ancestral land on the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

After graduation, she plans to return to Botswana and carry on the work she started.

Nikita said: ‘The first month was pretty difficult.

It was a complete culture shock on a personal level and the style of work was very frustrating at the start.

“The community was not very receptive to us either and it took a lot of work for them to accept and trust us.

That was probably the hardest thing to overcome.”

Eventually, the people began to accept her ideas and suggestions.

Nikita said: “My primary goals were to raise HIV awareness and promote equal rights and equal opportunities, especially among women.

“HIV and gender equality are pretty big things to be fighting, so it was important that we started to lay simple but effective foundations that they, and future volunteers and aid workers, could build on.”

Nikita set up a girls’ football team at the local school.

She also organised an talent event with local people displaying their own talents, such as singing and performance art, to promote the message of gender equality and tolerance.

Now, Nikita is counting down the months until she can return to Botswana.

She said: “This was a lifechanging experience for me. I definitely know what I am going to do now and cannot wait to return and finish what I started.”