Hopefully the pop megastar’s mood improved when she was greeted by cheering crowds as she visited a community centre in Malawi yesterday - with locals apparently praising her decision to adopt David Banda.
Madonna cheered by Malawians - April 19 2007
Madonna was greeted by cheering crowds when she visited a community centre in Malawi yesterday - with locals apparently praising her decision to adopt David Banda.
The pop diva - who sparked controversy when she brought the Malawian baby home to the UK last year - was met by people holding signs saying "Well done Madonna. Adopt more" and "Madonna we love you" when she arrived at the centre in Lilongwe, reports the Daily Star.
Some of the fans had waited for hours in the hot sun for a glimpse of the singer, who has spent the last few days in the impoverished country.
Madge, who has taken daughter Lourdes and son David on the trip, has already visited her new son’s old home, the church-run Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji.
She’s also toured UN-backed development projects in the small village of Mtanga, where farmers are being helped to grow maize and start fish farming.
see photos of Madonna in Malawi
Madge to adopt orphanage? - April 18 2007
She’s already in the process of adopting Malawian toddler David and there are rumours that she’d like to adopt a girl as well - but now it seems Madonna may want to take on an entire orphanage.
The Queen of Pop is back in Malawi for her charity work and so 18-month-old David Banda can see his biological dad. While there, she’s returned to the Home Of Hope orphanage, says the Daily Mail.
The star is quoted as saying: "I might take over the orphanage because the pastor here is getting old and about to retire. I love you and I have all your welfare at heart.
"I will do my very best to support you all and take care of you in the same way as David."
She added: "If Malawians will work hand in hand with me, I will help Malawi."
The 48-year-old apparently plans to spend a month a year in the African country overseeing the orphanage, farming and hospital projects she is helping to fund.
Madge revisits adopted son’s orphanage - April 18 2007
Madonna, her daughter and the young Malawian boy she’s in the process of adopting visited his old orphanage in Malawi.
Children at the church-run Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji, a village near the Zambian border, sang and recited lessons for the pop star, while her daughter, Lourdes, took video footage.
Madonna was visiting to oversee her charity projects in the impoverished country.
When she visited last autumn she took custody of the then 14-month-old David Banda, who was in Home of Hope after the death of his mother.
The move sparked controversy and raised concerns that regulations were being swept aside to benefit a pop star who has been generous to the country.
Madonna maintains she has followed the law.
The star’s security and police tried to stop journalists and onlookers from entering the orphanage compound today but villagers, mainly children, clambered over the wall and rushed in.
The orphanage has been the scene of much excitement in recent weeks with the road leading to it graded, new flowers planted and new uniforms for the children.
Madonna aims to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 children in Malawi, which is among the poorest countries in the world.
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The following year Madonna broke away from Kamins and recorded Holiday which went straight in to the American top 20 and was a hit across Europe. She cemented her raunchy image with Like A Virgin, her first US number one, and Material Girl with it’s iconic video. By this time Madonna was becoming one of the most emulated and best loved artists in the world and she became even more popular thanks to her part in Live Aid and a high profile marriage to Sean Penn.
The pop diva followed up her success with several singles from the True Blue album and turned her hand to acting for the first time in the poorly received A Certain Sacrifice and of course, Desperately Seeking Susan. Her first real flop was alongside her husband in the laughable Shanghai Surprise. Her failure’s in the film department didn’t stop David Mamet from casting her in a Broadway production of Speed the Plow - by this time talent or no, Madonna’s was name that guaranteed attention.
1989 saw the singer court controversy with the video for Like A Prayer, featuring a black Jesus, which outraged and shocked the Catholic church and caused Pepsi to cancel a sponsorship deal. But far from ruining her career, this stunt saw her become the icon that we know today. The 1990s were the pinnacle of Madonna’s success, her divorce from Sean Penn pushing her further in to the lime light, beginning with a part in Dick Tracy opposite Warren Beatty and a fantastic soundtrack album alongside featuring hit song Vogue. Documentary film Truth or Dare and her Blonde Ambition tour (with that pointy bra) followed with further controversy.
In 1992 she signed a multi million pound deal with Time Warner guaranteeing the release of music, films and books through her own record label, Maverick. She made the most of the deal with picture book Sex, which caused another controversy but rocketed up the bestsellers charts nonetheless. Erotica was her first album for years though not to generate a US number one. People thought that perhaps Madonna had gone too far with her need to shock, and perhaps she had realised it too as her next album was far mellower and a part in Evita in 1996 made her bankable again.
Later that year she fell pregnant with Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, daughter of her personal trainer. But far from slowing her work, having a child only seemed to spur Madonna on, she released the runaway success, Ray of Light which produced hit after hit and recorded Beautiful Stranger for the second Austin Powers movie. she also starred alongside Rupert Everett in romantic comedy The Next Best Thing.
It was around this time that Madonna met British director Guy Ritchie - the man who would change her life. They had son Rocco in 2000 and they married in 2002 after Madonna moved permanently to England, took to wearing flat caps and drinking tea. The title track of her album Music gave her a transatlantic number one hit. Collaborations with Ritchie, especially their film Swept Away, have generally been unsuccessful but Madonna’s music career continues to go from strength to strength, her latest album American Life has been a worldwide hit and she has even found time to pen a children’s book, The English Roses. Now, an honorary Brit and devout follower of Kaballah, Madonna lives with her family in Marylebone and Wiltshire. She also owns a ?4 million Spanish-style villa in Beverly Hills, a house in Miami and a duplex overlooking Central Park in New York.
(Updated April 04)
November 2007