Madonna BACK In Malawi

LILONGWE, Malawi — Madonna has arrived in Malawi ahead of her weeklong charity tour.

According to an official program released by the pop star's charity, Raising Malawi, Madonna is scheduled Monday to visit the Millennium Village, a United Nations initiative in the central border district west of Lilongwe.

Madonna will be joined by economist Jeffrey Sachs, a development affairs expert and mentor of the initiative. On Tuesday, she will lay the first brick of her Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, signaling the official commencement of construction of the $15 million academy, set to open in 2011.

Madonna has pumped millions into this impoverished southern African country and become very active in charitable efforts; she has also adopted two children from Malawi.

Comments

[Rhonnybay]

02:46 PM on 04/06/2010

I would also like for white families who adopt black children to take the time to learn about black haircare.

just a pet peeve.

[algomajoker]

12:36 PM on 04/06/2010

Why doesn't she pump her millions into her hometown area of Flint and Saginaw and Bay City, Michigan and help get their economies back on track? If you want to visit a 3rd world country, go no farther than Saginaw, MI.

[Winthorpe]

11:37 AM on 04/06/2010

I was watching "Shanghai Surprise" when I read this -- sublime genius.

[goddessNdiva]

05:01 PM on 04/05/2010

OMG is that little David? Soooo cute.

[alguien]

02:47 PM on 04/05/2010

i suppose she'll remain mum as to the case of the 2 gay men being prosecuted for having an engagement ceremony.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/01/19/malawi-defends-prosecution-of-gay-couple/

she hasn't said or done anything thus far.

[goddess1871]

01:51 PM on 04/05/2010

Uh-oh....... somebody's going shopping!

[tanx8]

08:09 PM on 04/05/2010

Best comment :)

[expanse]

09:37 PM on 04/05/2010

Best comment? If by best you mean most jaded disgusting comment. No wonder the Tea Party is taking hold in this country. We are hopelessly cynical and jaded.

[ywcachieve]

10:44 AM on 04/05/2010

Also, Brad and Angie, and Madonna are the only celebrities I know of, who did not just adopt these children, BUT they continue to stay involved with their adopted children's homeland, in financial endeavors, and they also continue to take their children back to their homeland, so the children will stay connected to their heritage.

[tanx8]

08:04 PM on 04/05/2010

Madonna forces the Kabbalah faith on children attending her "schools". She gives then no other option they MUST learn Kabbalah. This is no different from the settlors forcing natives to convert to Christianity- this is not charity.

[tanx8]

08:10 PM on 04/05/2010

them*

[ywcachieve]

10:38 AM on 04/05/2010

I can't believe people criticize Madonna for doing a good thing such and adopting orphans in African, and supporting their homeland financially, supporting schools and orphanages there.

If Madonna had adopted children in Europe, there would not be any complaints from these people who are criticizing her now.

There are celebrities who adopt children all the time, from China, the Ukraine, Russia.....BUT you NEVER hear them get criticized for it. But as soon as a celebrity adopts a child from from Africa, you hear all this negative rhetoric.

Why don't you criticize, Sharon Stone, who adopted three white children from Europe, or Meg Ryan who adopted a child from China, or many other celebrities who have adopted children from Asian and Europe?

But it seems like the only ones who get criticized is, Brad and Angie, and Madonna, because they adopted African children.

[The Notorious PDF]

11:00 AM on 04/05/2010

I agree completely. People are so petty, spiteful and negative. At worst, even if I was skeptical of her intentions (which I still haven't seen any real reason to be--people just love being negative A-h*les who love to look for things to complain and be negative about, which, ironically, is exactly what allows the whole area of celebrity gossip to thrive), I would be ambivalent at worst. As long as she's a good parent, then these kids are lucky, and their country is lucky. The alternative is that they would be broke, poor and destitute, and no one would know and no one would give a crap. So I see no reason to criticize Madonna, even if she's partially doing it for the pub. These kids will likely have a much better life as a result of Madonna. Thank you Madonna.

[tanx8]

08:06 PM on 04/05/2010

She adopted both children when family member's refused to give up the kids and when laws prohibited her from adopting them. She practically stole them, its called human trafficking.

Then she pretends to build schools that are well disguised Kabbalah conversion centres. This is not a charity.

Perhaps you should open your eyes a little more to the truth.

[kctlaw]

02:55 PM on 04/07/2010

Whoa, major run on sentences. And Madonna said your welcome.

[checkyourfactsnow]

12:57 PM on 04/05/2010

Wow, you are so ignorant. The reason Madonna is criticized - UNLIKE Angie - is because she BROKE the rules and behaved like a typical rich person! She demanded the laws to be changed especially for her. I applaud people who adopt, but NOT Madonna. She did not act in the best interest of the child, she acted in her own interest.

As for people adopting "from europe": you cannot adopt kids 'from europe'. Only from a few former Soviet republics. Unlike the USA, in Western Europe there are hardly any kids or babies up for adoption (other than foster-care).

Sharon Stone's kids are all from the US btw, not from Europe. I don't know who she bought them from though. Private adoption.

[CowgirlAmy]

02:14 PM on 04/05/2010

Not true about Madonna breaking laws. This issue was settled by the Malawian government.

[NikkiJolie]

07:43 AM on 04/06/2010

All three of Angelina's children have biological families. Pax and Zahara have mothers. Maddox's adoption from Cambodia was controversial and the agency was involved in child trafficking (almost all the children had families who were tricked or paid into giving up their children) and, as a result, all adoptions were canceled or put on hold during that period, though Angelina somehow was allowed to put in paperwork after adoptions had been halted. Pax's adoption from Vietnam was supposed to take a minimum of 3 months, yet Angelina adopted him in 2-3 weeks total because of preferential treatment which the agency admitted to. They brushed off criticism by saying that Pax was a perfect match for the family and there wasn't a need to wait. Angelina's a master PR guru (see the NY Times article about this) and has managed to detract controversy with photo ops and press releases about every single act of charity she happens to be involved with.

[CorkiDeCat]

10:07 AM on 04/05/2010

PR move... Time to put the boy toy away and look grown up and nice for a bit...

[LynnBarnstorm13]

08:32 AM on 04/05/2010

There are plenty of black children in the US that need to be adopted.

[hjo4]

08:40 AM on 04/05/2010

Yes I believe there are plenty of American Black people who are willingly to adopt them,but it's costly to adopt a child. I hope these children are raised being made aware of their strong African heritage. I have no real problems with inter-racial adoptions, my only concern is for the children mental well being.

[tanya1111]

08:43 AM on 04/05/2010

it is a whole lot cheaper to adopt an american black child than an african child, about 30 K cheaper.

[LynnBarnstorm13]

09:48 AM on 04/05/2010

I agree, hj04.

[tanya1111]

08:44 AM on 04/05/2010

yeah but where is the publicity in that?

[CowgirlAmy]

09:22 AM on 04/05/2010

Are you kidding? You think she would get any less publicity for adopting there than here? Like Madonna needs publicity. When you are as famous as her you don't need to generate publicity especially since this has been very negative publicity for her. She is doing a good thing so try thinking before typing.

[rundown09]

10:37 AM on 04/05/2010

I happen to agree with you, publicity plays a big part in this for her, there are so many children in the US african as well white so to pay more and go to African "appears to be" (as I don't know her personally) more for publicity than anything else at this point in her "career".