Madonna’s third day in Malawi
Madonna visited another orphanage on her third day in Malawi, the Associated Press reports. Together with her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, they traveled Friday to the small village of Mchinji near the Zambian border where she distributed copies of her book and listened to children sing. A boy of about 12, said it was the second time Madonna had visited the Home of Hope orphanage.
Malawi is among the poorest countries in the world, with rampant disease and hunger, aggravated by periodic droughts and crop failure. Just over 14 percent of the 12 million population are infected with HIV, and an estimated 1 million children have been orphaned. In many villages, grandparents or older siblings struggle to feed orphans.
Madonna‘s visit has been shrouded in secrecy and she failed to show up for a scheduled meeting Friday with a top government minister, apparently because she was tied up visiting another orphanage.
Security officials indicated she was planning on staying for a while. “We are not leaving soon,” Madonna’s chief bodyguard has been reported as saying. “We are here for a while.”
Madonna also met representatives of a local charity that is working with Madonna’s own organization, Raising Malawi – a project aiming to set up an orphan care center to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 children.
From the Associated Press.