Madonna's Malawi

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


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I am not sure I understand ... maybe this article is chock full of emotional rants but whether or not these words are true, Madonna is in the midst of a public relations nightmare.  She is long used to controversy, it built her career and one-woman empire but some things are not easily explained as mere misunderstandings or broken communication. 

The adoption of children from impoverished countries with families who love them but cannot feed them, have not abandoned their family connections, they are poor.  It is unseemly to whisk their children away while promising future visits in earshot of the world and then renege on your word.

I remember the promises of visits during the adoption of Mercy because the previous adoption of Malawian boy, David Banda by Madonna, was at that time mired in similar accusations of withheld visits by his father.  Madonna has not learnt.

To add insult, land cleared for the erection of a school was on fertile land in use by villagers who were made to vacate but it now stands idle and is a dust bowl no longer fertile.  So what happened to plans for the school?  Madonna claims she has bigger plans now, except the Malawian government know nothing of them.

This PR nightmare puts Madonna in a terrible position - she appears insensitive, calculating and dishonest and she may be just that but no one will get away with taking children of the poor away from their loved ones in lieu of money - when there are countless others with no food or family one can adopt - and not expect mounting public scorn.  An orphan is an orphan, a poor child in safe keeping at an orphanage is not the same thing.

Would it not be better to donate funds to help these institutions - a little goes a long way.