LILONGWE (Reuters) - Madonna's bid to adopt a second Malawian child, a baby girl called Mercy James, will be examined by a court in the southern African country next week, officials said on Friday.
The 4-year-old would be a sister for David, whose adoption by the U.S. pop star aroused controversy, and comes from the same orphanage.
"Her name is Mercy James from Mchinji Home of Hope orphanage. She has no father and mother, they both died...We finished the assessment yesterday in readiness for the courts next week," an official at the ministry of Gender and Child Development told Reuters.
Court clerks confirmed the name of the child and said that Madonna or her associates were expected to appear in court next Monday for the adoption proceedings. She is expected to arrive in Malawi over the weekend, officials said.
Some Malawians opposed David's adoption, accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, which has been badly hit by an AIDS epidemic.
The local Nation newspaper this month quoted Madonna, 50, as saying that Malawian friends had told her David needed a brother or sister and that she would consider adopting another child, but only with the support of the Malawian people.
David's life with the global pop star is worlds away from his village of Lipunga, where his relatives eat staple food like maize meal and meals are cooked on open fires. His father, Yohane Banda, told Reuters that he may see his son next week.
Madonna, who was divorced last year from British film director Guy Ritchie, is one of the most successful singers of all time, with album sales of more than 200 million.
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A young Malawian holds up a handwritten sign outside Lilongwe High Court, where the ruling was made
Although the ruling is undoubtedly a surprise, there were signs that all was not well before the judgement.
For Monday's court hearing, Madonna wore a simple black dress and low heels as part of her efforts to convince Judge Chombo that she is a modest and respectable lady.
But the people of Malawi - family oriented and with traditional values - had concerns about this newly divorced woman who until a couple of weeks ago was going out with a 22-year-old model called Jesus.
The fact that before her divorce from Guy Ritchie she was worth an estimated £300million - he is believed to have taken around £50 million as part of the settlement - did not impress them.
Neither did her divorce. According to one source, Guy's name was originally on the adoption documents and he had planned to be Mercy's father - but the split put paid to that.
Then there was Mercy's family, who seem to have been pushed into something they didn't want, saying they repeatedly refused to agree to the adoption before finally relenting under the pressure placed on by them by government officials operating on Madonna's behalf.
Mercy's grandmother, Lucy, went so far as to accuse Madonna of 'stealing' the child.
A couple of days later, Malawi's Human Rights Consultative Committee, a coalition of 85 non-governmental organisations, accused her of 'child kidnap' and of being a 'bully'.
'She has money, she has status, she is using her profile to manipulate the procedures,' said Undule Mwakasungula, its national co-ordinator.
But then, Madonna's arrogance has been on conspicuous display all week. Her wild extravagances in this desperately poor country are insensitive and really rather impolite.
Three days ago, for example, Madonna went to Blantyre to see the orphanage where newborn Mercy was placed following the death of her mother.
Blantyre is a three-hour drive from Lilongwe. Early Wednesday morning, a convoy of the singer's staff set off from their luxury lodge for the scenic drive across country.
Madonna did not go with them. The 50-year-old had another important commitment that morning - her two-hour workout under the tutelage of Josh, the personal trainer she has also brought with her.
She caught up with her staff by private jet later that day. Madonna chartered a plane to fly up from South Africa to make the short return hop to Blantyre.
The cost to fly the plane to Lilongwe alone would have been around £10,000. Would the three-hour drive in her luxury Toyota landcruiser have been so onerous? Clearly it would.
If Madonna were in Malawi on a private visit, you might say, well, good luck to her. But Madonna is here in the capacity of her self-appointed role as saviour of Malawi (although whether she feels so warmly towards the country at this moment is another matter).
Yet she remains utterly oblivious to the reality around her. She has been cocooned in a bubble of super-celebrity for 25 years and she is out of touch. Naturally, she flew by private jet from New York to Malawi.
In this of all places, her flashy behaviour is unbecoming; the opposite, in fact, of the quiet dignity of the Malawian people, many of whose priority each day is simply to find food for their families.
In the rural areas, women walk miles each day to collect water; back in the luxury lodge which she has hired out in its entirety for the week.
Madonna, in contrast, has been enjoying a glass of two of fine claret in the evenings.
She has flown in nine bottles of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2000 - priced at a very modest $90 a bottle.
The selection of South African wines available at the lodge aren't to her very specific taste, apparently.
On Monday, when Madonna met Yohane Banda, David's father, reports say she was wearing a Chanel lounge-suit - £1,150 velour jacket and £850 trousers. (David's first words to his father were: 'Hello, who are you?')
Does she ever pause to consider what impression she is making, whizzing around the place by private jet or in huge convoys, with her retinue of adoring staff and her tough-guy Israeli bodyguards?
Probably not. The annual wage of Yohane Banda, growing onions and tomatoes, is about £50, and that is not at all unusual in rural areas. In other words, he earns in a year not much less than you'd pay for a nice bottle of Chateau Lafitte.
The singer is for ever going on about how she won't let David lose touch with his Malawian roots, and on Tuesday she took him to the Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji, 75 miles from Lilongwe, where he was placed after Yohane's wife died following complications from childbirth.
Inside the orphanage, some other children asked David: 'Muli bwanji? - the traditional Malawian greeting in Chichewa, the local language, which means: 'How are you?' The usual response to this is: 'Tili bwino (I'm fine)'.
David did not understand. Madonna apologised, saying they would not need a translator next time and, indeed, the whole family would by then speak Chichewa.
But will there be a next time? David has a woman tutor with him in Malawi - one of the posse which includes an assistant, a nanny, the bodyguards and the personal trainer - who is teaching him French. But not Chichewa.
Madonna's supporters point out that she is pouring millions of dollars into the country, setting up schools and clinics and so on. Her generosity knows no bounds, they say.
Well, up to a point. Evidenced by that private jet hire to Blantyre, Madonna's charity comes at no personal sacrifice to her own comfort. And for someone so in love with Malawi, she's not here all that often, either, as Judge Chombo pointed out in her ruling yesterday. This is only her third trip to the country, the last being two years ago.
While she jets between her several homes, the problems in Malawi continue to mount up. Diseases such as malaria are widespread, and more than a third of the population is estimated to have HIV or AIDS.
Madonna's funding of new schools, health clinics and orphanages has to be for the good. But as with everything else in Madonna's life, it's her way or no way. For example, her insistence on inflicting Kabbalah on the people.
The majority of Malawi's 14 million population are devout Christians. In the mid-19th century, Dr Livingstone and his missionaries brought with them the Presbyterianism that Malawians follow to this day.
But Madonna, born a Catholic, is now a follower of her own celebrity version of Kabbalah, a mystical form of Judaism. She set up Raising Malawi with Michael Berg, the son of Philip Berg, rabbi and dean of the Kabbalah Centre in America. So the thousands of children in Malawi who are attending her schools must be taught Kabbalah, too.
Raising Malawi, her charity, likes to call it 'Spirituality For Kids', so that no one becomes too alarmed. But it's Kabbalah, for sure.
According to sources, Spirituality For Kids will be on the curriculum at her largest project to date - the Raising Malawi Academy For Girls.
Madonna has told architects she wants it to be akin to a school set up by Oprah Winfrey in South Africa. It will be big and gleaming with state-of-the art facilities of the like never before seen here.
Madonna has fallen in love with a large plot of land - common land, not owned by the government - where she plans to build her academy.
But it is already occupied, as I discovered this week.
The village of Chinkhota stands in a fertile valley a few miles outside Lilongwe. The 500 villagers work the land Madonna wants to build on and have little money.
Raising Malawi has made them a tempting offer - thousands of dollars in return for the land.
The village chief, Binson Kalenga, says he has been offered 600,000 kwachas ($4,000). That is a lot of money in these parts and almost impossible to refuse.
Other villagers have also been offered sums in return for relinquishing the land and leaving their homes
Because of the figures involved, many of them are happy to accept. But others are deeply worried.
Sources say that some, if not all, of the villagers will have to be relocated. But what is not yet clear is where they will go, or what will happen when the cash runs out.
'In the short term, it looks great, but what is the long-term future of these people?' asked one Lilongwe-based resident.
'Their way of life is farming the land. Their whole lives are being uprooted.'
Madonna swung by the village on Sunday on her way from the airport to the lodge with eldest daughter Lourdes.
She surveyed the valley where she hopes the academy is to be built and sighed: 'It's so beautiful.'
What a lovely warm glow it must have given the ego that was to receive such an unexpected blow later in the week.
Today, Madonna is in shock, planning her next move.
She had been going to fly to London this weekend with Mercy and the rest of the family.
Sources say she was to hand Rocco and David over to her exhusband, Guy, as part of custody arrangements, and introduce him to Mercy.
Whether she will now stay in Malawi for the appeal is not yet clear.
Meanwhile, it is believed that Mercy will have to return to her orphanage at some point over the weekend.
What pain and confusion must lie ahead for this innocent little girl.
Posts: 3773 | From: unfinished thought | Registered: Nov 2008
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Seriously Madonna f*cked this one up herself. She pumped seriously money into this country through her charity and in the end she gets a kick in the butt for that.
After the problems she already faced to adopt little David from Malawi three years ago she should have just gone to Ethiopia f.e. where adoption regulations are clear. It would have taken her about a year to adopt a child - perhaps they would have processed her adoption dossier due to her celebrity status (I know the Ethiopian government did it for Angelina Jolie) - and it would have cost her no more than 25.000 US-$.
Actually she should have never set foot into Malawi and even try tro raise awareness because all her hard work came back at her. I don't have a clue why Madonna did what she did. Usually she is a clever business woman but her adoption adventures are nothing short of drama.
Do you think her appeal will make much sense? I wonder how are her chances are now?? Perhaps she gets a more tolerant judge next time around and will be able to adopt Mercy after all??
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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THE tot denied to MADONNA was sent back to her Malawi orphanage last night after spending the day in floods of tears, pleading: “Where’s my Mummy?”
Mercy James, three, was left bewildered as the heartbroken singer left the African country without her girl following the rejection of her adoption bid.
Madonna, 50, flew to Britain with kids Lourdes, 12, Rocco, eight, and adopted three-year-old David Banda, greeted at Luton Airport by Madge’s ex-hubby GUY RITCHIE.
But the devastated singer cut a forlorn figure as she stepped alone from the private plane.
Denied ... Madonna
She had earlier lodged an appeal against the court adoption ruling, with aides hoping it may start as early as today.
The boss of Mercy’s orphanage, the Kondanani Children’s Home, said the youngster “could not understand where her new family had gone”.
Annie Chikhwaza said: “It’s devastating for Mercy. She had bonded with her new family and was calling for Madonna, saying, ‘Where is my Mummy?’
“She couldn’t understand where Lola, David and Rocco had gone — she thought they were playing hide and seek. It broke my heart to see her crying out for David as they’d become inseparable.
“Madonna said she will do whatever it takes to get her back.”
A source at the luxury lodge, where Madonna stayed in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, said the star spent more than an hour talking gently to little Mercy before she left for her flight.
The source said: “Madonna was up at dawn cradling Mercy, gently soothing her and making her laugh.
“You could see how upset she was when she had to say goodbye. She could barely wrench herself away.”
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Judge Esme Chombo ruled Madonna was ineligible to adopt Mercy last week because she did not qualify as a Malawian resident.
But Guy, 40, offered his support, just months after the couple’s divorce, calling Madge “a great mother”.
A family friend said yesterday: “Madonna was incredibly touched. He’s been an unexpected source of strength.”
Reunited ... Guy hugs little David at airport
Posts: 3773 | From: unfinished thought | Registered: Nov 2008
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“Madonna said she will do whatever it takes to get her back.”
Mercy was never legally Madonna's child so this is a strange thing to say. Yes she bonded with the girl over the years after the first time she laid eyes on her when she adopted David at that time.
I understood she decorated already a nursery for the girl back in NYC and Madonna's other children were 100% certain they gonna bring a new sibling home last weekend.
But things became a little more complicated as the judge denied Madonna's adoption application. However - the story ain't over - at least not for Madonna.
And yes it's heartbreaking for the little girl Mercy who bonded with Madonna and her family and was now left at the orphanage. I hope for a good outcome; I really do.
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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Devorced to her husband, as a 50 yr old woman dating a 22 yr. old, children from different fathers, she doesn't give the impression of a stabile family to raise up children, so the judge refused...
-------------------- “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006
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^ Indeed. I don't know if anyone's noticed but Madonna is one crazy a$$ b*tch!!
She claims to be a practicing member of the Kabalah sect of Judaism, yet she is not Jewish and usually only Rabbis of the most wise in their scriptures can become Kabalists. Madonna is so 'fervent' in her religion that she only drinks kabalah blessed holy water and she has her swimming pool full of kabalah water, yet we all know Madonna is far from being a pious woman of purity for such practices!
Now she's adopting these black babies from Africa!! Please, don't corrupt these poor children!
ROTFLPosts: 26311 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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'I want to give her a loving family': Madonna makes public plea for Mercy
By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 5:59 PM on 13th April 2009
Madonna has spoken for the first time about her failed attempt to adopt three-year-old Mercy James from Malawi.
The singer made a public plea for the toddler in an email to Malawi's Nation newspaper after launching an appeal over the legal ruling.
'I want to provide Mercy with a home, a loving family environment and the best education and healthcare possible,' Madonna wrote.
'And it's my hope that she, like David, will one day return to Malawi and help the people of their country'.
An undated photo of the singer cradling the sleeping child was released by her representatives to a news agency today. The picture shows a young-looking Madonna, on one of her trips to the country, sitting and smiling as a sleeping Mercy, wearing a white cotton dress, nestles into her arm.
The 50-year-old continued: 'Though I have been advised that I cannot publicly discuss the pending appeal regarding my desire to adopt Mercy, I do want to say how much I appreciate the level of support that I have received from the people of Malawi and my friends around the world.'
Madonna adopted David Banda from the impoverished African country in 2006 despite critics claiming she had used her celebrity status to bend the country's laws.
Judge Esime Chombo turned down the singer's latest adoption application because she didn't meet the country's 18 to 24-month residency requirement.
Her lawyer Alan Chinula confirmed last week that she has filed an appeal.
Meanwhile, Madonna has been praised for her good mothering skills by her former nanny Angela Jacobsen.
In an interview in her native Australia, Miss Jacobsen said: 'She was loving, caring. She spent lots of time with the children. Hard working. Fantastic.'
On Madonna's failed adoption bid, she added: 'It's a shame. It would've been a great opportunity for the little girl.
'She would have been well looked after in a loving family. It would have been nice if David could have had a sister from Malawi.'
But she said Madonna was 'determined and inspirational' and was sure she would try for adoption again: 'She packs so much into every day and she's taught me how much I can do and what I can achieve. I'm very grateful for that experience.
The former nanny also revealed Madonna has a number of strict household rules which include banning her children from ever eating McDonald's, watching TV or reading a newspaper.
But there were perks, such as travel in the Material Girl's private jet to the Maldives and between Madonna's homes in America and Britain.
The only memory Angela says she left behind was an Aussie Rules football jumper she gave to David, as well as teaching the theme song of Melbourne team Hawthorn.
'I don't really think Madonna ever understood what it meant. Obviously, AFL's not very big in American or England.'
She admitted even toddler David left her behind when it came to speaking French: 'David will go to full-time French school. I learned a little bit of French. I was learning basics with David, but he progressed far quicker than I did and I'm not able to help with homework and things like that.'
Miss Jacobsen, who handed in her notice last month only to be told by the singer to leave at once, had previously hinted that the strain of working long hours drove her to quit.
Ha, I was so certain this whole adoption dilemma will have a good outcome - and it did!! And I am truly glad for the little girl to be blessed with such an opportunity in life.
All the best to Madonna and her children! If only I could bring my kids already home!!
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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I am wishing her good luck!!
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