LEAVING aside the
glamour and material
world of music fame,
American pop diva
Madonna jetted into
Malawi this week on
a humanitarian
mission to help Aids
orphans and to adopt
a child.
While in
this central
southern African
country, Madonna is
expected to travel
to Mphandula, a
village about 50km
away from Lilongwe,
the capital, where
she plans to set up
an education and
feeding centre for
HIV and Aids
orphans.
Madonna and her
10-member delegation
landed on a private
plane quietly
without prior
announcement.
The 'Material Girl'
first made public
her plans to visit
Malawi in an
interview with the
Time magazine in
August.
In this interview,
she said she hoped
to raise US$3
million for
programmes to
support Aids
orphans. During her
stay in Malawi,
Madonna will launch
six projects to help
underprivileged
children.
Malawi with a
population of about
13 million people
has an estimated 1
million children who
have lost at least
one parent largely
due to the ravaging
HIV and Aids
pandemic.
This central
southern African
country is among the
poorest countries in
the world and
drought, the
HIV/Aids pandemic
and poverty have
stalled development
for years.
The traditional
African extended
family system is
collapsing and in
most villages, many
orphaned children
are being cared for
either their
slightly older
siblings or
grandparents. Food,
clothing and shelter
are a challenge to
the carers.
Madonna has put
Malawi on the
spotlight adding to
the humanitarian
goodness flagged by
singer Bono who held
a concert to raise
funds for a
charitable cause in
East Africa and Brad
Pitt and Angelina
Jolie who recently
donated $300,000 to
Namibia to help
impoverished babies.
Brad Pitt and
Angelina Jolie's
whose child was born
in Namibia early
this year unveiled
plans to donate US$1
million each to two
humanitarian
organisations active
in Africa.
In another good
cause, actor and
director George
Clooney is
campaigning
passionately for the
Darfur victims of
war in the Sudan
complementing the
former US president
Bill Clinton's
campaign to bring
low cost drugs to
Malawi's poor.
Most of the poor
in Malawi have not
heard much about
Madonna, but this
has not stopped the
pop superstar from
embarking on her
humanitarian
mission.
Poverty in many
African countries is
real and the world
should applaud the
stars for their
tangible action to
tackle poverty
despite facing
criticism.
Critics in the
West say Madonna's
visit to Malawi is
'little more than a
publicity stunt by
one of the world's
best
self-promoters.'
Others say the
fact that orphans at
the centre will be
taught a curriculum
based on
'Spirituality for
Kids', linked to the
Kabbalah school of
mysticism to which
Madonna is a
follower, has added
to the cynicism.
In Malawi, people
say they don't 'eat
criticism and all
the cynicism' of
people who are well
off but welcomed the
American pop star's
visit saying it
makes a difference
to the lives of the
orphans.
"Poverty in
Malawi is real,
there are no doubts
about it," says
Weston Kamupanji, of
Blantyre, the
commercial capital.
"People welcome any
help they can get as
long as it can make
a difference in the
lives of our
people."
"Let critics bark
and after that ask
them, what are you
yourself doing to
assist the poor.'
You will be
surprised that they
don't have an answer
to this. So let
those who can assist
the poor do so."
Whether or not
Madonna, who was
recently awarded a
Guiness World Record
for being the
highest paid female
singer (made US$50
million in 2004) is
seeking to reinvent
herself as
humanitarian or is
seeking to show her
vague interest in
humanitarian
goodness, the visit
to Malawi and her
contribution to the
lives of the orphans
certainly reflects
her humanitarian
goodness and
normality.
For a while,
never mind all the
controversies
surrounding her
stage image. Zero in
on the good side
which is
transforming the
lives of the
underprivileged
children in Malawi.
