Perhaps a rich and famous continent will adopt Africa. Yes, its family will miss it, but at least it will be well taken care of, receive an education and healthcare, and grow up to be whatever it wants to be.
Yes, the above scenario is flippant, but the heartbreaking tale of little David Banda, the 13-month-old Malawian boy adopted by Madonna and her family, leads logically to this conclusion: between abject poverty and pandemic disease, particularly AIDS, there may be no other way out for the Cradle of Mankind. Maybe Africa needs to get out of Africa.
The boy — who arrived at Madonna's central London mansion on Tuesday amid press frenzy, feverish activity to block his "streamlined" adoption process back in Malawi, and with the judgment of onlookers around the globe pressing upon his tiny shoulders — will live a life of opportunity and freedom from want that his relatives — most heartbreakingly his father and grandmother — and the vast majority of his countrymen can scarcely dream of.
While today a Malawian court deferred for a week a lawsuit by the Human Rights Consultative Committee, a coalition of 67 local rights groups opposed to the adoption on the grounds that "laws were flouted and the government may set a precedent that can legalize human trafficking," an empathetic story in The Guardian helps put things in perspective.
The vehemence of the criticism she has received has clearly caught the 48-year-old diva — normally a master of PR manipulation — off guard. "I know they are provocative and I prepare myself but I did not expect the media, the government or any human rights organizations to take a stand against me trying to save a child's life," she confessed to People magazine.
Those closest to David would appear to agree. Not only did the boy's father, Yohane Banda, 32, an uneducated tomato and onion subsistence farmer, lose his wife Marita, 28, six days after David was born, but the couple's first son, Garnet, died of malaria aged two years and eight months, and the second, Babel, died of an "undetermined illness" at 18 months.
Article comments
1 - CChen
I totally agree with you about the adoption. It disheartens me to see human rights associations lose sight of the true mission of their causes by wasting time, manpower, and money on this.
2 - Calista
In the past few days, thousands of people have been introduced to a country that they did not know existed (Malawi) and to a problem which is much larger than they ever imagined (the plight of orphaned children in Africa).
These facts were brought to their attention not by a head of state or a UN official but by the Queen of Pop: Madonna. Whether or not we like it, we live in a celebrity obsessed society. Many celebrities are happy to sit back and collect their money and free gift bags, but a few are willing to use their drawing power to help others.
The aid community should not resent the fact that celebrities are “flocking” to Africa. Instead they should be asking what took you so long. Africa is a wonderful, proud, dynamic continent that welcomes visitors and more importantly needs our help.
Some have reacted with disdain and frustration towards Madonna’s adoption of a young Malawian orphan. Their outrage should not be directed at Madonna but towards a system that has created a culture of desperate poverty in some areas of Africa. We should address the powerful forces that are creating orphans: poverty, lack of development and opportunity, corruption and HIV/AIDS.
People have criticized Madonna not just for adopting a child but for setting up an orphan care center in predominantly Christian Malawi that will use the Kabbalah in its teachings. Malawi is a Christian country now only because Christian teachings were brought in by missionaries. What is the difference between Madonna setting up a school and other faith-based groups doing the same thing? There are thousands religious schools all over the United States that tutor students of all faiths. The mission of these schools is not conversion but education. No matter what type of education you receive the choice to follow a particular religion is ultimately a personal decision. I attended Catholic school for four years. I did not come from a Catholic family nor am I Catholic now, but what I did receive was a good education, an education that has allowed me to be successful in my life, an education that all children should have.
Quite frankly, there are parents and orphans all over the continent who would gladly trade places with David, Madonna’s new son. I have heard stories of desperate parents attempting to give their children to people traveling to the developed world in hopes that they will have a better life. In fact, a childhood friend of mine was brought to the United States in this exact manner.
There is no perfect model for international aid; as long as it is backed with good intentions every little bit helps. I agree with many children rights groups that all adoptions should be legal so long as potential adoptive parents are carefully screened. I also understand the frustration felt by many that Madonna was granted a fast track adoption. But this is neither the first nor the last time that a celebrity will get something a little bit easier than the rest of us. But this should not distract us from the fact that Madonna is doing something to help.
Instead of criticizing Madonna we should all be thinking what we can do to help.
It does not matter if you are white, black, Jewish, Christian, Pagan, purple or orange we are all human beings. You do not have to have a specific DNA make-up to help your fellow human being. It is better to have a loving, caring and supportive family, no matter what color they are.
This is a situation that goes beyond wood, stone or glass houses, no one in any house should throw stones at Madonna from changing the life of one little boy.
Calista Johnson
Washington, D.C.
3 - Eric Olsen
I started off pretty skeptical and I still am very ambivalent about the precendent a "unique" case like this sets, but I think under the circumstances you have to take the players involved at face value
4 - Eric Olsen
wow Calista, that's a good speech
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
See, here's where I'd take a Madonna song and jazz up the lyrics to apply it to the news, unfortunately I just don't know any of her songs, and I don't want to look it up.
..Wait a sec ... she did the Austin Powers song, right?
"I just adopted a beautiful stranger..."
Meh. Weak even for me.
6 - Michelin
I hope Africa gets it's wish. What is needed to is to get rid of the corrupt government.
7 - Eric Olsen
good point Michelin, government corruption has made a bad economic situation far worse in a number of African countries
8 - Olga
I have always hated Madonna: bad music, bad movies, bad hair, bad everything. In the past two weeks, I have gained total respect for her, as a person. I am just ashamed to live in a society where people can dismiss the good deeds of others. It's really sick. Even if you don't agree with my view, that hate against her that has been spread in some media is truly insulting. At least Eric is able to display his point of view without sounding like a jealous idiot.
9 - Eric Olsen
thanks Olga! I may be an idiot, I may be jealous, but I'm not a jealous idiot