MacGuffie, a reconstructive and plastic surgeon, is the co-founder of SHARE, Society for Hospital and Resources Exchange, a non-profit organization that does a majority of its work in Kenya, where the average rate of HIV infection rate is as high as 35 percent.
MacGuffie, who has traveled to Kenya for the past 20 years, said, “To try and see a change that could be brought about by people that we took with us and the sense that we’re going to try and improve their situation [is rewarding]. A little bit goes a long way.”
The doctor herself has come a long way since her undergraduate years at Cornell University and becoming one of the first female graduates of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Despite being one of the few female doctors at the time, she encountered little discrimination. “I didn’t run into a lot of difficulty in terms of people being prejudiced,” she said. After seven years of internship and residency at Columbia, she went into practice in Rockland County, New York.
In 1979, MacGuffie experienced a personal tragedy that would change the course of her life. The mother of eight children lost two of her sons to AIDS contracted through blood transfusions. Her oldest son left home after his brothers died. “He was 18 and became ill and called home for money and got into drugs and alcohol. And he just couldn’t manage losing his younger brothers. And we never found him. Presumably, he died of AIDS as well,” she said.
Since then, MacGuffie has dedicated her time to helping children in Kenya who have been orphaned as a result of AIDS through her work at SHARE as well as giving lectures to raise AIDS awareness in the United States.
In 1987, MacGuffie helped found SHARE, focusing mainly on the AIDS crisis in Kenya. “We picked an area that we knew they needed the most help and where it would be feasible to try and help,” MacGuffie said. “[Kenya is] a relatively open country and it has no civil insurrection, you know, civil war, which many of the other countries have,” she said.
SHARE’s mission is to cultivate and encourage health care advancement, support the activities of other non-profit organizations and develop relationships between health care establishments and the communities they serve. Through private donations and grants, SHARE has provided education, nutrition and equipment to help Kenyans become more self-sufficient in terms of health. SHARE also builds clinics, sponsors orphans to go to college and works on various projects in both Kenya and the United States.
Other projects include the purchase of a solar powered oven for villagers and donating money to an orphanage supporting children who have lost parents to the epidemic.
One of MacGuffie’s major goals is the empowerment of Kenyan women, many of whom are widows as a result of the AIDS epidemic. “Women are managers,” she said. “Women are the caretakers of the family. They’re a very powerful group. Having been a doctor for 55 years, I find them very strong, and I have faith that they can manage and somehow be the leaders in terms of helping the country back on its feet.”
The Kenyans have responded to SHARE’s programs. They call MacGuffie “Domtila Awiti,” which translates to “grandmother picking up children by the side of the road.” Despite the health crisis in the country, MacGuffie said life in Kenya is “exciting, satisfying, unexpected, beautiful, just about anything that you would be interested in if you wanted to have an exciting time…and be safe with many problems to solve.”
MacGuffie has also worked in Uganda and Zaire, as well as with AmeriCares in Central America. “AmeriCares is an organization run by Robert Macauley, a retired businessman who turned the proceeds of his business over to AmeriCares. Their purpose is to be one of the first organizations to get to an area where there’s been a catastrophe of any kind—a flood or earthquake or some natural catastrophe, and he’s one of my heroes,” she said.
While her work is rewarding, MacGuffie admits working in an area with a high AIDS rate can be emotionally difficult. “It’s very sad when you see total families destroyed, and in many cases, unnecessarily so. It’s very distressing,” she said.
MacGuffie said the main misconception about AIDS in Africa is that they are responsible for it. “They are not. [Africans] develop the diseases associated with AIDS earlier than other people because of the poor nutrition and damaged immune systems from diseases like malaria, malnutrition and very parasitic diseases due to impure water,” she explained.
Beyond her active work and commitment to SHARE, the 83 year old doctor leads a full life beyond her role as an AIDS activist. In addition to taking walks and gardening, MacGuffie collects unicorns. “The unicorn is the protector of all creatures,” she said.
Much like the unicorn, MacGuffie spends time caring for injured animals, such as dogs, horses and raccoons. “We have sort of a little wildlife sanctuary where I live,” she said.
Her “part Scottish castle, part manor house” is also the home of the annual Scare Fair fundraiser, usually held around Halloween. During the Scare Fair, MacGuffie’s house, supposedly haunted, is decorated to match the scary theme. “It’s pretty scary looking when you fix it up a bit and the volunteers are very scary when the paramedics make them up. And we raise quite a bit of money. We’ve had children who’ve raised $10,000,” she said.
“I find that the youth of the country is where the future lies,” MacGuffie said, adding that high school students should educate themselves as much as possible. “[Students] need to realize how much work needs to be done to educate a population that wants to blame a disease on anyone else…and to become aware of the conditions in places like Kenya and elsewhere in Africa and Third World countries.”
According to MacGuffie, “[Students] can think of what they’ve learned so far, they can make it a point of finding why conditions continue the way they do, and they’ll know what they have to do if they are aware of what’s going on.”
She said, “I know one person can really make a difference. Every person can make a difference in the life of someone else. I think everybody runs into someone in their lives who can help direct them to something they want.” She added, “I have five daughters, and they’re all teachers. And I think that’s the answer—to find someone who can teach so that you can learn. It’s all out there, but I never tell anyone what they should do. They can always come up with an idea that’ll work—just be aware of the problem.”
When she gives a presentation, MacGuffie said she ends with a picture of an island in Africa, where anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey uncovered a skull of an ancient forerunner of man in 1959. She said by looking at the picture, it is hard to tell whether it is sunrise or sunset. “Whether that sun is rising or whether it is setting is largely up to us,” she added, noting that young people have a choice of how they will shape their futures.
To learn more about SHARE or to make a contribution, visit www.shareafrica.org
Webmaster’s note: This article was originally published by Laura Ly in the “Gael Winds Newspaper”, Shelton High School ‘08. It is reprinted here with permission.
Ms. Ly, a high school student, interviewed SHARE founder Dr. MacGuffie in Spring 2007.