Madonna and David arrived in Malawi

Madonna arrived in Malawi on Monday with the young local boy she is adopting, amid rumors she intended to adopt a second child from an orphanage in the impoverished southern African nation.

The pop singer, who sparked controversy last year when she decided to adopt one-year-old David Banda from a local orphanage, landed at Lilongwe’s airport in a private jet, a Reuters witness at the airport said.

Wearing dark glasses and a black outfit, Madonna carried Banda, now about 18 months old, as she walked onto the tarmac. She and her entourage quickly left the airport in a convoy of vehicles.

The singer is expected to visit an orphanage just outside the Malawian capital in connection with her charity work in the country, as well as travel to the Home of Hope orphanage, where Banda lived before Madonna applied to adopt him.

A spokeswoman for Madonna says she has no plans to adopt another child despite media reports that the U.S.-born singer and her British film director husband
Guy Ritchie wanted to add a young Malawian girl to their family.

The visit comes some six months after the couple signed interim adoption papers for Banda, who was to stay with Madonna and Ritchie for 18 months before a decision was made by the Malawian government on whether to finalize the adoption.

Malawian officials have said they are monitoring Banda’s progress in Britain, where he has been living with the couple.

Madonna’s adoption of the child grabbed world headlines and caused some rights groups in Malawi to question whether she had used her celebrity status to bypass laws governing the adoption of Malawians by foreigners – an argument denied by her lawyers.

Yohane Banda, the child’s father, also has complained that he did not have access to the American singer and was having difficulty getting information about his son. David Banda was placed in an orphanage shortly after his mother died.

There was no immediate information on whether David Banda would visit his father during Madonna’s visit.

The adoption controversy has helped to spotlight the plight of orphans in Malawi, where more than 900,000 children are orphaned and another 500,000 have lost at least one parent, many of them to the country’s devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic.

From Reuters.

Madonna flew to Malawi on a silver jet Monday to continue her charity work in the impoverished southern African country, bringing along the Malawian boy she is in the process of adopting.

The pop star, wearing a baseball cap, carried a small boy down the steps of the jet, and a child’s seat was fixed into a waiting sports utility vehicle. Her three-vehicle motorcade then drove off at top speed to a luxury ranch, followed by journalists.

Madonna visited Malawi last fall to pick up 1-year-old David Banda, who was in an orphanage after the death of his mother. That visit set off a controversy over concerns that regulations were being swept aside to benefit a pop star who has been generous to the country.

Madonna, 48, and her filmmaker husband
Guy Ritchie were granted an interim court order on Oct. 12 allowing them to take initial custody of David. Under Malawi regulations, prospective parents must undergo an 18-to-24 month assessment period, but Madonna was allowed to take the boy to her London home soon after the court order.

Malawian child welfare officials are expected to file a report on the suitability of Madonna and Ritchie as adoptive parents after two trips to their London residence in May and December. The singer says has followed the law.

Ahead of her latest visit, the grass was cut and hedges trimmed at the airport, the orphanages and care centers she has been involved with were painted, and security was tightened around the exclusive lodge where the star stayed last year.

Madonna’s New York-based publicist Liz Rosenberg said the star was visiting to continue her work with her Raising Malawi organization and denied speculation of another adoption.

“She is overseeing the building of a children’s health care center. She is absolutely not adopting another baby,” Rosenberg said in a statement.

David’s father, Yohane Banda, surrendered his son to the orphanage after his wife died of childbirth complications. The couple’s two other sons died in infancy from malaria.

After initial confusion, Banda has said he wants David to stay with Madonna and Ritchie, saying he was too poor to raise him.

The road to Banda’s village on the Zambian border has also been cleared, but it was unclear whether Madonna would visit him.

Madonna’s organization aims to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 children.

Malawi is among the poorest countries in the world, with rampant disease and hunger, aggravated by periodic droughts and crop failure. Just over 14 percent of its 12 million people have HIV.

From the Associated Press