Madonna to visit Malawi orphanage on Monday
Madonna is expected to arrive in Malawi on Monday where she will visit the orphanage from which she adopted a one-year-old boy last year, a top official said on Sunday.
The pop star was initially expected to arrive in the impoverished southern African country on Sunday.
“What we know is that she is expected tomorrow and will immediately visit two sites,” a senior government official told Reuters.
Madonna will inspect an orphanage being built in Mphandula Village, just outside the capital Lilongwe, that she is helping to fund, as well as the Home for Hope orphanage from where she adopted David Banda six months ago, the official said.
The singer’s spokeswoman says she has no plans to adopt another child although media reports suggest Madonna plans to adopt a young girl.
An official from the Home for Hope said she was not sure whether David would accompany Madonna but confirmed she was expected there on Monday.
From Reuters via Yahoo! News
Preparations are under way for a return visit to Malawi by pop star Madonna, who is adopting a child from the southern African country where her charity does work among its many Aids orphans.
The orphanages and care centres she has been involved with have been freshly painted and spruced up while security around the exclusive lodge where the star stayed last year has been tightened.
Madonna’s plans to adopt toddler David Banda sparked an international controversy and raised concerns that regulations were being swept aside to benefit a pop star who has been generous to the country.
It is also not clear whether she will be accompanied by David or any other members of her family.
Rumours that the celebrity was to adopt another child have been strongly denied.
Madonna’s New York-based publicist Liz Rosenberg said the star was going to Africa to continue her work with the Raising Malawi organisation. “She is overseeing the building of a children’s health care centre. She is absolutely not adopting another baby,” she said in a statement.
Yacinta Chapomba, a director of local aid group Consol Homes, which has been involved with Madonna’s organisation in the building of a children’s care centre, said an official opening ceremony would be held at the centre. She could not confirm whether the star would attend.
The centre in the impoverished village of Mphandula, 30 miles outside the capital, Lilongwe, will initially house 400 children who lost their parents to Aids.
There has also been much activity at the Home of Hope orphanage where David was cared for. The road to the village of Mchinji have been upgraded, new flowers planted and the children have received new uniforms. Three local police officers have been posted at the orphanage.
Madonna, 48, and her filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie were granted an interim court order on October 12 allowing them to take initial custody of then 14-month-old David. The singer has two other children, Lourdes, 9, and Rocco, 6.
From Metro.co.uk.