FEATURED JOBS
So word has it today that a judge in Malawi has turned down a petition by Madonna – oops, I mean Esther, as she’s known in kabbalistic circles – to adopt a second child from that southeastern African country.
Madge, now 50, adopted her 3-year-old son, David Banda, in Malawi in 2006. Now, it seems that a residency requirement there has prevented the pop superstar and mystical dabbler from adopting 3½-year-old Chifundoercy James, whom she first encountered in an orphanage three years ago. The residency requirement for prospective parents is 18 to 24 months in Malawi.
Shockingly, Madonna, who lives in New York and London, doesn’t apparently plan to move to Malawi anytime soon.
I admit, I’ve never been a big fan of the Material Gal. But I do admire the tremendous amount of good work she’s done for poor and abandoned children in Malawi. Quietly and publicly, she’s raised a lot of money and awareness for orphanages and fighting AIDS and poverty there, and kicked in her own bucks as well. She also co-founded a non-profit group called Raising Malawi, which provides programs to help the needy.
She obviously cares.
But at the same time, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of goofball American entertainers zipping into struggling and impoverished lands, snatching their kids (largely because their wealth and celebrity status bring special privileges and hyper-expedited red-tape treatment) and then parading themselves in the media for their mitzvahs
.
Intention must count for something.
Perhaps Madonna’s star doesn’t shine as brightly as it did in the mid-‘80s when she first came to the public eye. Maybe she’s bummed over her most recent broken marriage, and series of failed relationships. Perhaps now in the throes of middle age, she needs a new toy.
But a child is not a toy.
Besides David, Madonna already has two other children, daughter Lourdes, 12, and son Rocco, 8. She should focus on them and be satisfied, or if she must adopt, there’s a few kids here in the ol’ U.S of A. that wouldn’t be averse to moving into one of her manses.
This judge in Malawi was absolutely right when she said children need real parents, “not someone who just flies in and out.” My guess is the judge wasn’t just talking about Madonna and this particular adoption case, but also about American society and its feel-good hubris and condescending attitude toward Third-World nations and cultures.
Of course, I’m sure Madonna will appeal, and eventually win her adoption bid. She’s not the type who gives up easily, or likes to lose.
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