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I'll adopt the orphanage, says Madonna
Last updated at 11:37am on 18.04.07She already adopted an orphan boy and there are suggestions she might like an African girl as well.
But now Madonna has gone even further on her mission to Malawi – by hinting that she might take over an entire orphanage.
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Madonna's husband Guy Ritchie didn't join the family on this trip.
The 48-year-old announced she was planning to run the Home of Hope orphan village, where her son David Banda used to live.
She revealed the idea to the hundreds of youngsters who sang when she visited the centre in Mchinji.
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Daughter Lourdes joined Madonna and baby David on the Malawi visit.
She said: "I might take over the orphanage because the pastor here is getting old and is about to retire."
She added: "If Malawians will work hand in hand with me I will still help Malawi."
The Home of Hope village was set up in 1998 by the Reverend Tompson Chipeta, a retired Presbyterian minister who was an orphan himself.
Madonna, who is visiting Malawi with daughter Lourdes, ten, and 18-month-old David, is also planning to build a home for her family in Malawi.
She plans to spend up to a month a year there overseeing the orphanage, hospital and farming projects she is helping to fund.
She is using her current trip to Africa to look for a suitable piece of land on which to build her plantation.
She will meet planners, farmers and environmentalists with a view to building a self-sufficient estate powered by sustainable energy.
Her plans will go some way to dispelling the negative publicity that followed her adoption of baby David in October.
She was criticised over the speed of the adoption and for being chauffeurdriven in and out of five-star hotels.
A source close to the star said: "She was terribly hurt over the criticism surrounding the adoption. She felt the coverage was very damaging.
"She simply could not understand where all the negativity was coming from but she has reacted in a pragmatic way by throwing herself further into projects to help the country."
Reader views (7)
To Jo - actually I DO sponsor a child - in fact I sponsor two children in Zambia. And unlike Madonna, I don't insist on force-feeding them a load of fraudulent mumbo-jumbo.
Why is it that those who think people criticise Madonna must be doing little or nothing themselves?
- Emma, London, UK
To those of you who are criticizing Madonna - do any of you actually sponsor a child? The average family income in Malawi is around £20 a year - can you imagine what £10 extra a year makes to them? Something is better than nothing - go Madonna!
- Jo, London
Her last trip to Malawi made me angry - viewing her come to and from the orphanage from a five star resort in a convoy of SUVs was pretty sickening. She has zero self-awareness.
Now I actually feel sorry for her. She looks like an ageing icon desperate to retain some kind of relevance in the world. The fact that her 'help' is contingent upon promoting Kabbalah doesn't help. She looks like a 'trendy' version of the Bu****es in the US whose AIDS help to Africa is dependent upon pushing a religiously inspired abstinence policy.
She is, quite frankly, grotesque. Moreover, proportionally speaking, she's giving very little in cash - a sum that can easily be written off against her tax bill.
- Emma, London, UK
Isn't some help better than no help for these poor people even if it's someone rich and famous who is helping? We are all so opionated about the world, just live and let live. I don't see any of you helping... right?
- Emily, London
Madonna doesn't have to help, or adopt, or do anything for that matter. Leave her to make her own choices, none of us are God, who are we to judge, as far as I am concerned, as long as she gives the children a good start in life and opportunities she is doing a better job than us. It's better than sitting back and not doing anything.
- Hannah, London
She's doing the right thing helping people.
- Saviour Micallef, Malta
She looks ridiculous. Who is she trying to be, messing with people's lives just to make over her image? Very insincere...
- Keisha Simmons, Augusta, GA
