From “Poverty to Paparazzi”

For those of you who don’t know, Madonna and her side-kick husband Guy have just adopted an orphan son (”David Banda”) from Malawi, a land-locked African country where 90% of the population engages in subsistence farming. Instead of being happy for the little lottery winner, aid group Eye of the Child is spearheading a legal fight against the “exceptions” that were made for Madonna.

Let’s take a look at this from the perspective of the young man who was born in a mud hut over the border in Zambia and whose mother, Marita, gave birth unaided by a nurse or any medical equipment, save for a plastic sheet. She died shortly after this ordeal.

If he remains in Malawi, odds are he’ll be dead in less than 36 years (life expectancy in Malawi is 36.5 years). He’ll be in a country best known for:

* low income (the mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day)
* insufficient nutrition
* poor access to medical treatment
* insufficient school education
* spread of HIV/AIDS
* child mortality of 103/1,000
* one million orphans (700k of whom became orphans from parents dying of AIDS).
* government economic restrictions

With the adoption by Madonna however he’ll be raised by one of the richest women in the world–most likely in the UK but no doubt with trips to Malibu, New York, Hawaii, Bali, etc. He’ll be educated by tutors and/or the nicest private schools in the world. He’ll have access to the best medical treatments in the world. Not only that, but he’ll also grow up knowing that his adopted mother pledged $3 million to help the 900,000 orphans left behind as well as setting up an orphan center there. Might help with any guilt that he might (but shouldn’t) feel.

But Eye of the Child is bothered by the principle that accommodations were made to Madonna and has decided to redirect funds that otherwise be feeding the orphans and give it to needy, hungry lawyers.

Other charities are delighted that Madonna has publicized the plight of some 900,000 orphans in Malawi. The people of Lipunga, his home village, see this as God-given stroke of good fortune.

Here is one journalist’s description of the town where Madonna’s new son came from:

Almost every adult I met had lost at least one child, usually to malaria or diarrhoea. The risks attached to childbirth are astonishingly high. Malawi has one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality. About one percent of all births result in the mother’s death. Lipunga has a primary school with 892 pupils and six teachers. Of the eight classrooms, only four have desks. A lone teacher will often attempt to conduct lessons before 200 children sitting on the floor. If any of the village’s people fall ill, the nearest hospital is a 40 mile journey along a dirt track running through the bush.

And Eye of the Child is upset that the adoption was “fast-tracked”. If Madonna’s young Malawi orphan was old enough to speak, one can only guess what he’d be saying right now to the folks at the Eye:

Well, something to that effect.

If Madonna wants to use some of her immense wealth to help one child (and in fact with her gift many children) then shouldn’t we be happy?

tags: malawi madonna eye of the child

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 8:20 am by Insider and is filed under Politically Correct ... and stupid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.