Madonna has applied to adopt a second child from Malawi, a High Court clerk said today, despite the controversy surrounding an earlier adoption by the pop star in the poor southern African country.
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 said he could not comment.
"We expect her over the weekend or earlier than that . . . but without a doubt she is coming before the end of this month," the official at the Ministry of Gender and Child Development told Reuters.
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 life of a global popstar, worlds away from his village of Lipunga, where his relatives eat staple food like maize meal from simple bowls and meals are cooked on open fires.
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, told Reuters that he may see his son next week.
Reuters