MADONNA AND MALAWI 10/22/06

radical sapphoq says: I do not care for the singer known as Madonna. Ever since the picture ["staged shot"] of the German Shepard Dog appearing lustily from between her legs was published in a book containing photographs of Madonna-- the book with the special silver cover released just before the 1992 Christmas shopping season-- I refuse to listen to her music or support her in any way. Even a "staged shot" of implied beastiality is far too offensive for my sensibilities. Some time after that, Madonna attempted to clean up her public image a bit through motherhood and marriage in some order.

Recently, Madonna pledged to contribute a lot of money to orphanages in Malawi. Specifically, she plans an orphanage where Kabbalah will be taught to the orphans. It is noted that Kabbalah, a form of mysticism, is not native to any Malawi spiritual beliefs. The orphanage system as it stands now is overrun with children and babies who have lost parents to AIDS or malaria. In turn, some carefully pre-selected twelve little ones were lined up for her [uh, well okay, she got to play with some kids and then pick one out] as possible desirable candidates for adoption. This was done in spite of Malawi's [currently controversial] policy of requiring that foreigners reside in Malawi for eighteen months before being allowed to adopt-- and Britain's adoption law requiring that adoptive parents be no more than 45 years older than their adopted children. Madonna also just happened to pick out a little boy who is not HIV positive. Little David Banda, 13 months old, had been placed in the orphanage because his father did not have the financial resources to care for him. Because David's mother is dead, he is considered to be an orphan under the laws of his country.

His father, a man who cannot read or write, signed the adoption papers believing that David would be returned to him as a teenager. There are conflicting reports about Mr. Banda's view of the adoption. It is reported that Madonna will arrange for David to visit in three or four years. Madonna has already taken her new charge to London. I believe it is doubtful that she will agree to return him to Malawi permanently at any time in the foreseeable future.

Personally, I detest the sort of grandstanding that Madonna engages in. The large sums of money that she has already spent on David certainly could have been used to buy his father and his father's whole village out of poverty. If she really cared that much about Malawi orphans, she could have agreed to raise money for the building of orphanages without stipulating that they must teach Kabbalah to the children in their charge. If she cared that much about "the children of the world" that she claims she feels responsibility for, she might have considered not contaminating the Malawi culture with her presence. By her celebrity status, she has successfully defeated Malawi values concerning foreign adoptions. By virtue of her money, Madonna is guaranteed that Malawi children will be exposed to a foreign mysticism which again runs contrary to Malawi native cultural teachings.

~radical sapphoq