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Mystery over adoption claims as Madonna visits orphanage
Last updated at 10:53am on 06.10.06
Madonna with children at the Kondanani orphanage in Malawi
Madonna has visited an orphanage on the second day of her trip to Malawi, fueling speculation that she is to adopt a local one-year-old boy.
A government spokeswoman said yesterday that the singer had flew there by private jet to "locate a suitable candidate", a claim denied by her publicist.
Madonna is believed to have picked the orphaned infant from 12 children specially chosen prior to her arrival in the country.
"She asked us to identify boys only, which we have done after visiting four orphanages in Lilongwe," government spokeswoman Adrina Michiela said, adding that Madonna had wanted to adopt a girl but changed her mind two weeks ago.
Ministers in Malawi added that they allowed the 48-year-old popstar, who already has two children, Lourdes, nine, and Rocco, five, to be exempt from the county's usual ban on non-resident adoptions.
However, the popstar's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg has called the report "completely inaccurate" but said Madonna was not bothered because it would help draw attention to the problems of children in the impoverished African nation.
Rosenberg, who acts as Madonna's chief spokeswoman at her Warner Records music label, said the singer's visit to the Malawian orphanages was part of a charitable programme to provide care for an estimated one million children in the southern African nation.
"She has not adopted a child," said Rosenberg. "She went on a private visit to Malawi... to participate in the building of an orphanage."
Rosenberg said she had spoken to Madonna directly since the adoption story broke and that the singer was not angry about the situation.
"I think that anything that brings attention to the country is fine with her, even if it's information that's not correct," the publicist said. "She wants people to pay attention to Malawi and to the 1 million children who don't have parents and don't have care there."
Madonna today visited the Kondanani orphanage in Bvumbwe, on the outskirts of Malawi's commercial capital Blantyre.
The singer plans to spend at least $3million on programs to support orphans in Malawi and another $1million to fund a documentary about the plight of children in the country.
