Anna Thomas, Jessie Wakelin and Emily Sullivan will spend nine weeks working in Mwanza, on the banks of Lake Victoria, for their third year elective starting in August.
They will be the first Otago nursing students to travel to Africa for their elective, with most of their class spending time in Dunedin or other hospitals around New Zealand.
"We will be learning so many amazing things over there. We are getting the best experience," Miss Sullivan said.
While they were enthusiastic about helping and caring for underprivileged people, they knew they were going to be "pushed in the deep end", Miss Thomas said.
With the support of Work the World, a provider of overseas healthcare placements, they will spend seven weeks in a hospital and two in a village clinic.
"The hospital is OK, but what they don't have is the resources and supplies and they have limited paid staff," she said.
Along with dealing with acute patients suffering from insect bites, they would be exposed to patients with Aids and had heard of other students on electives who had delivered 15 babies, solo.
"I just can't wait to get there and see so many different things that we would not get the chance to see here," Miss Sullivan said.
In preparation, Miss Wakelin had bought a Swahili medical dictionary, though she said lessons were provided in the Work the World accommodation.
They would also need to have eight vaccinations and take a "shopping bag of medication" with them.
"Just in case anything goes wrong, we don't want to use anyone's resources," she said.
The trip, which included funding for the hospital, would cost $12,000 to $15,000. The students had received $1000 grants from the polytechnic, but were seeking further support.
They had also been given a list of possible medical equipment to take over and were working on getting donations.
The trio hoped their trip could be the start, with other students taking the opportunity to follow in their footsteps.
