Madonna and Malawi, the dangers of adopting a third world country, or not

In the general scheme of my life, I couldn’t care less what happens in Madonna’s life. I do like some of her music. But this latest soap opera is too crazy not to notice.

Madonna wants to take a little orphan girl from a pathetically poor country where most of the parents died of AIDS. And a group of nutty people, perhaps the same bunch that claim white people shouldn’t adopt black children because it is better to live in black poverty and foster care than it is to escape into the wicked white world, have lobbied loudly for the little girl remaining right where God put her. In a country where the average life span is approximately the length of time it takes to get a decent education.

And some judge, who probably routinely accepts gifts of chickens and bags of rice, rules against Madonna, who has pumped millions of dollars into this awful country, none of which the judge has apparently seen. This is all because Malawi, believe it or not, has a law that people adopting children from there have to reside in the country for 18 months or some ridiculous length of time.

Now how completely crazy is that. But, wait, there is more. This morning I was listening to an interview with a Western charity worker in Malawi on public radio who said that Madonna should be supporting thousands of children in Malawi, not just trying to save one. Because the Malawi Government and the Western press had identified the little girl in question, Madonna was now obligated to care for this child forever and as many other Malawi children as her “riches” would allow. Does that sound not so vaguely like a black mail threat? I thought so too.