‘A higher calling’: Dr Marc Aguirre’s mission to serve the marginalised and vulnerable

It was a family tragedy that changed Dr Marc Aguirre’s life trajectory. Just as he was set for a career in neurosurgery, his sister was killed in a car accident in Cape Town. When he went to her funeral, he heard about a side of her life he was not fully aware of.

“I started hearing stories about how she would work in communities and how she cared for marginalised people by helping with food and clothing. I was amazed and wondered who is this person.

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“It made me question my purpose, and I realised my focus was on my career. It made me realise I wanted to have a purpose greater than myself. It became quite spiritual, and I felt God’s calling on my life to imitate her life and use my medical training in a way that could really help those who either did not have access to healthcare or were marginalised or disadvantaged.

“After my internship, there was a job opening with HOPE Worldwide in the Ivory Coast to run an HIV clinic for people with HIV who could not pay for their health care. So we went there to run the clinic.”

Aguirre’s early life

Aguirre was born in London and moved to South Africa at age seven.

“I went to the University of Witwatersrand where I did Bachelor of Medical Sciences and Honours degrees and then transitioned into medical school.”

The job in Ivory Coast job at the HIV clinic was in the days before antiretroviral therapy.

“A lot of my patients were dying. I was regularly at funerals. With so much fear and stigma around HIV, we created one of the first support groups for people living with HIV there.”

“It was amazing to see the solidarity and growth of the group. But as the epidemic raged on, we saw children increasingly suffering the brunt of the epidemic, with more orphans and vulnerable children left behind.

“So we started developing programmes focusing on these children. Then, there was a huge amount of civil unrest in 2003 in the country, so we had to flee.

“Fortunately, there was a job opening with HOPE Worldwide South Africa. So we came back here, and I worked in Soweto and across the country with people living with HIV and helped develop and run our orphans and vulnerable children programmes.”

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HOPE Worldwide South Africa has operated for 15 years, footprinting seven provinces. It works closely with the Department of Basic Education, the Department of Social Development and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

Child’s early years

Aguirre said that a child’s early years were the most critical in their development but that it was evident many young and vulnerable children in SA were neglected in terms of services and support.

“I remember just over 10 years ago driving around informal communities such as Zandspruit and seeing so many young children at home unable to attend preschools because parents could simply not afford it.

“So, for the last decade or more, we really focused on early childhood,” he said.

According to recent research, nearly two-thirds of children three to five years old (3.3 million) do not have access to Early Learning Programmes (ELPs). Of children who do have access to an ELP, six out of 10 are falling behind.

The quality of existing ELPs is often poor, with unqualified teachers and insufficient resources. Also, millions of young children are malnourished, with 27% of children being stunted.

“A recent report said eight million children go hungry every day in this country. And right now, only about 20% of children can read for understanding by Grade four.

“We are facing a massive food insecurity and literacy crisis that must be addressed urgently,” Aguirre said.

“There is very little support for parents and caregivers in the early years. All this puts these children at a massive disadvantage in terms of school readiness or being able to learn.”

HOPE Worldwide SA

HOPE Worldwide SA’s ECD programmes focus on supporting both preschools and caregivers. This includes a network of nearly 1,400 member preschools with almost 63,000 children benefiting. These schools receive a range of training and support services to enhance the quality of education they provide.

The nutrition programme reaches 31,000 children monthly via support to preschools and households. Its National Parenting Programme has a 10-session ECD parenting curriculum facilitated through parent support groups. It has shown improved ages and stages questionnaire scores.

Additionally, its caregiver learning through play programme aims to equip 600,000 caregivers over three and a half years.

“As country director, I see my role in two main areas. Firstly, strategy – guiding the direction of the organisation and finding ways to reach as many children as possible in impactful ways.”

“This means engaging with the community in respectful and relational ways, listening to and learning from them,” Aguirre said.

“This also means identifying the right partners to make that happen. Importantly, it also involves monitoring our work to see if we are making progress.

“Second is sustainability. That involves mobilising human and financial resources and recruiting and retaining highly skilled staff that make the difference and finding the funding to ensure we reach our goals.”

With 170 staff countrywide, Aguirre said it was very encouraging that many of them were initially beneficiaries of the programme.

“Spending time in community really impacts me, hearing the stories of transformation and being inspired by the tremendous resilience I see.

“This motivates me enormously to be a voice for those that often do not have a voice.”

– lungas@citizen.co.za