LILONGWE – Madonna has applied to adopt a second child from Malawi, a High Court clerk here said yesterday, despite the controversy surrounding an earlier adoption by the US pop star in the poor southern African country.
She may visit Malawi in the next few days, a government official said earlier. The case will be heard around March 30th, said the clerk.
Officials said Madonna would bring her Malawian son David on the trip. Her lawyer Alan Chinula said he could not comment.
Some Malawians opposed David’s adoption, accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, which has been badly hit by an Aids epidemic.
The local Nationnewspaper this month quoted Madonna as saying that Malawian friends had told her David needed a brother or sister and that she would consider adopting another child, but only with the support of the Malawian people. David is growing up in the high-flying family of a global pop star, worlds away from his village of Lipunga.
Madonna is expected to visit a site where her charity, Raising Malawi, will start building a multi-million dollar school for girls, the officials said.
David’s father, Yohane Banda, said that he may see his son next week. “Someone from Raising Malawi visited me last week and told me that my son may be visiting me sometime next week. I am delighted, I want to see my son,” he said. – (Reuters)