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11
October 2006
Madonna
Adopts Child In
Africa
Madonna
has adopted a
one-year-old boy in
Malawi, according to
reports.
The
boy's father, Yohane
Banda, told the
Associated Press: "I
know he will be very
happy in
America."
Speculation
the singer was planning
to adopt began when she
flew into Malawi and
visited several
orphanages.
Madonna's
publicist initially
denied the adoption
reports but a
spokeswoman has now said
an official statement is
expected within 48
hours.
Mr
Banda said: "I am the
father of David, who has
been adopted. I am very
very happy because as
you can see there is
poverty in this village
and I know he will be
very well looked after
in America."
He
told reporters that his
wife Marita died a month
after the baby's birth
from childbirth
complications.
Since
then the child had been
cared for at the Home of
Hope Orphan Care Centre
in Mchinji, a village
near the border with
Zambia.
Madonna
said she had travelled
to the region with her
husband, film-maker Guy
Ritchie, to help fight
poverty and the problem
of HIV and
AIDS.
A
government official in
Malawi had claimed
Madonna was due to file
for adoption papers on
arriving in the country
last week.
The
48-year-old already has
two children,
five-year-old son Rocco
and nine-year-old
daughter
Lourdes.
If
the singer has gone
ahead with the adoption
she follows in the
footsteps of Hollywood
actress Angelina
Jolie.
Jolie,
who gave birth to
Brad
Pitt's
child Shiloh Nouvel in
Namibia, has also
adopted children from
Cambodia and
Ethiopia.
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