PHILADELPHIA — Eight undergraduate students from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing raised more than $20,000 in medical supplies for clinics in Botswana, where they will work this summer to provide care as part of a Penn Nursing course.

The students, along with two instructors, will depart from the School of Nursing at noon on Thursday, July 23, and travel to Botswana carrying eight 50-pound bags of medicine and medical supplies.

Working in small clinics, hospitals, orphanages, schools and hospices, the students will use these supplies to provide basic education and wellness care, blood pressure and diabetes monitoring, wound care and medication management for persons with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

”This is a group of students who are exemplars of what engagement is all about,” Afaf Meleis, dean of Penn Nursing, said.

Supervised by an American nurse and partnering with nursing student peers at the University of Botswana, the students will have regularly scheduled and supervised clinical practice in clinics and will perform a group project while overseas.

The students are supported by Penn Nursing, the Penn-Botswana Partnership and the University of Botswana Department of Nursing. The medical supplies, along with money to purchase additional supplies, were donated by IMA World Health, Cardinal Health, 3M, Dolby’s and friends and family.