She Who Shall Not Be Denied, otherwise known as Madonna, is determined to go ahead with her adoption of another child from Malawi, despite opposition from almost every corner:

Not everyone here is impressed with Madonna’s self-appointment as saviour of Malawi’s orphans. Yesterday the singer was branded a ‘child kidnapper’ by Mabvuto Bamusi, executive director of Malawi’s Human Rights Consultative Committee, a network of 85 non-governmental organisations.

‘We feel Madonna is behaving like a bully,’ added Undule Mwakasungula, its national co-ordinator, after the court hearing. ‘She has money, she has status, she is using her profile to manipulate the procedures.’

It would seem that Mercy’s family have finally bowed to the adoption after two years of pressure, exerted at Madonna’s behest.

Only this weekend, Mercy’s grandmother, Lucy, said that Mercy was being ’stolen’ from the family.

Madonna, who flew in to Lilongwe by private jet on Sunday afternoon, eventually sold the idea to the family by saying that one day Mercy would come back to see them at their village.

However, one might look up the father of little David Banda, also adopted by Madonna from the poor country, and ask him how many times he has seen his son since Madonna stole adopted him.  David has visited his father, Yohane, exactly one time since the adoption, and that only a few days ago…despite promising his father that there would be contact (reportedly, David’s first words to his father in over two years were, “Hello, who are you?”).

It is interesting to note that Madonna does not travel as most people do who wish to adopt a child from the country of Malawi (by the way, Peons Who Don’t Matter To She Who Shall Not Be Denied, otherwise known as regular people, must live in the African country for eighteen months before being considered as potential adoptive parents); she not only flew in her personal trainer (Josh; of course, what was I thinking?), but also several exercise machines including a treadmill.  Because, after all, she wouldn’t want to miss one minute of her hours-long workouts every day for something as insignificant as an adoption of another human being.  And God forbid she should run on something like a road!  Don’t you know how dusty it is in Africa?  Don’t you read National Geographic?  The people there are so dirty!

No, if Madonna wants something, Madonna gets something.  She wanted to exercise, so they flew in her special machines.  She wanted her trainer there, so they jetted him in.  She wants another child, so who cares if there are these pesky things called laws and statutes and such?  Plus, I’m sure she either got rid of or hid her Kablahblahblah red boogey-man-repellent string because it clashed with her outfit, not because a country which adheres to the Christian faith such as Malawi might not like it.  Oh no.  Why, that would be sneaky.

And just what does the family of little Mercy, the human life in question at the center of all this drama, have to say about the whole thing?

Mercy’s family aren’t impressed by Madonna the superstar. They don’t even know who she is because they have no radio or television in the redbrick hut in their village. All they know is that there is a wealthy lady from America who wishes to take Mercy away with her.

Mr Baneti, Mercy’s uncle, lives in a mud shack five hours away from Lilongwe.

He had never been to Lilongwe before yesterday’s court hearing.

Speaking a few days ago, the fisherman reportedly said: ‘We never wanted to let Mercy go. She is part of our extended family and our culture.

‘Now we have been persuaded that Mercy can have a better, healthier life somewhere else in the world with this rich white woman. I feel we need more advice, but everything is going so fast. We were told there is an important meeting where we must sign papers on Monday. Now we hear it is a court hearing in front of a judge.

‘We have no experience of this sort of thing. We are not sure if we should be saying goodbye to Mercy like this.

‘We cannot afford a lawyer to represent us, but my brother and I are going to insist there is an agreement that our niece will come back to us one day. We really need that.’

I suppose the idea that working to keep little Mercy’s family together and working to improve their lives has not occurred to Madonna.  Take it a step farther…one could argue that the money Madonna is spending to adopt one child away from her family could better be spent on attempting to give the whole country and its inhabitants a better quality of life.  A regular person might only be able to help one child, but someone such as Madonna has the ability to help many.  She has the money to spare, and I’m sure that is what her charity, Raising Malawi, is all about, right?  Helping lots of people, not just snatching the one child away that she really really really wants?

But then Madonna wouldn’t be getting her way, would she?  After all, creating a charity means that she truly cares, right?  She surely wouldn’t do something like that just to make herself look good to those in charge of signing adoption papers, right?

Then there is that school she is building.  Only really nice, decent-type people who deserve little African children build schools, right?

Madonna arrived in Malawi with Lourdes, 12, Rocco, 8, and David on Sunday and toured the village of Chinkhota, where she is planning to build a school.

The singer was photographed examining a 3D plan of the proposed building, but local residents were less than enthusiastic about the idea.

‘She has bought all this land and we are told everyone will lose their gardens and have their houses demolished,’ 43-year-old villager Lucy Chagoma said.

Another resident, Esinati Nkhoma, said villagers were worried that they would not receive compensation for their land.

‘We are told to leave our gardens after this year’s harvest, we are told our houses are to be pulled down but nobody is talking about compensation,’ she said. ‘Where will we move to?’

Charles Kalemba, the Lilongwe District Commissioner, said compensation was being handled by the government and officials from Madonna’s charity Raising Malawi.

‘Everyone will definitely be compensated,’ he insisted.

Most reasonable people, when confronted with those who have concerns about their actions, will at least give them a listen and examine themselves to see if those concerns have any merit.  Not so Madonna…here’s what she thinks about people who don’t think she is doing the right thing:

Asked what she thought about those opposed to the adoption, she replied: ‘It’s none of their business.’

And there you have it.  If she’s bending or outright breaking the law, if she’s behaving at the least unethically and at the most like a bullying thug, we have been put in our place…we have been told it’s really none of our business.  So those of you who support her by digging into your ever-shrinking wallet to buy her CDs, use your credit card to download her music, or pay good hard-earned money to go see her in concert, you’ve just been told it’s none of your business.  She’s got your money now and she’ll do what she pleases with it.  And if that means snatching a child away by dubious means, what’s that to you?  You’re just jealous because you can’t do it!

Source: k