If you follow the news in 2006, then you will remember that Madonna adopted a baby from Malawi. Today, he looks completely different. 16 years ago, the Queen of Pop stated that she felt more responsible for the children of the world and she wanted to help children in countries Riddle with poverty. So she and her ex-husband, Guy Ritchie, announced they were going to take a trip to Malawi through her foundation. Raising Malawi Madonna planned to raise $3 million to help some of the estimated 9000 orphans in the Southern African country.
The American’s goal was to use the money to build a new home for over 40 children orphaned by AIDS. The African country had an HIV infection rate of over 14% among adults. Part of the money would also be used to finance a film about the plight of Malawi and its children. You can tell she had great plans for the orphans of the country, but that wasn’t all she wanted to do more. The music legend also wanted to adopt a child from one of the orphanages in the country.
Isn’t that amazing? Madonna and Ritchie arrived in Malawi on a private jet and checked into the Kambali Lodge near the president’s house in the country’s capital. She began visiting orphanages around the country almost immediately to observe the challenges facing the country. A week after she got to the country, Madonna found the boy she wanted to add to her family. She chose David Banda, one of the 500 orphans living at the Home of Hope Orphanage.
Adoptions in Malawi are organized through the Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare, and Community Services, so she contacted the government agency to process the boy’s adoption. But who is David Banda and how did he end up at the orphanage? Marita Banda gave birth to David eleven months ago. Her husband, Johann, is a farmer who lives with his wife, Dipunga, in a small, neat village of 300 people in the foothills of far Western Malawi. The couple has had various fertility problems, and they had lost two children already.
Garnet, who was the first child, died of malaria when he was just two years and eight months old. The lovebirds decided to try again. They knew that their standard of living is also one of the reasons their first son died. This time, they were going to be more careful. After a short while, Marita was pregnant again and she gave birth to another son.
However, 18 months later, their baby boy, Babel, died of an undetermined illness. The Malawian couple was distraught, but they wanted to have kids and were determined to try again. Marita got pregnant again. This time, she and her husband were understandably nervous. One day, the 28 year old became so ill that her hubby had to rush her to the nearest clinic.
Johann borrows a bicycle and pedals 13 miles along a dirt road to get to the local health center. From there, she was transferred in an ambulance to a hospital, where she received treatment for a week. After she left the hospital, the pregnant woman traveled from Lapunga to Zambia, where her parents live. Shortly after, she went into labor and with the help of traditional midwives, she gave birth to a boy. The family was excited, and the boy, named David, was healthy.
However, his mother was barely alive. Unfortunately, Johann lost his wife six days after his son was born. Raising a child was always going to be difficult because of his financial situation, but losing his wife and raising the baby as a single parent made the task tougher. How was a man whose only source of livelihood was tomato and onion gardening going to ensure that his weak old son does not suffer the same fate as his siblings? He couldn’t even buy milk for his son, and his wife’s family wasn’t offering any help.
The 32 year old spoke to his mother, Asiati, about his flight. His mum is also a farmer who tends the vegetables, and she advised him to talk with the village head. Henderson Giza, a 69 year old man who was the head of the village, knows how difficult it is for a single parent to raise a baby in a small village like Lapunga. His grandson was sent to an orphanage. A few months after the child’s mother died, he advised Johann to ask the church’s permission to send David to the Home of Hope, an orphanage 25 miles away.
At the orphanage, the boy had a chance to survive. He would be well fed and receive personal care from an in house foster mother. His senior brothers died because of an illness, but David will have access to the onsite clinic to ensure he doesn’t suffer the same fate. David’s father took Asianti and his son to the Home of Hope Orphanage on a bicycle. Although the orphanage didn’t have enough space to accommodate the five year old boy, a generous volunteer agreed to take care of the boy.
Asiati said, It was a very sad day for us. Our only consolation was that the child had a better chance of staying alive. Johann hired a bicycle and made a 50 miles round trip every two weeks to see his son. Sometimes his mother came with him and they took food for a little boy. We were very close to my child.
Whenever I left the orphanage, David would cry, Johann said. However, 13 months after David was born, Johann was visited by Pennsylvan Callembei, the country’s director of social welfare. He asked whether the farmer would allow his son to be adopted by a foreign couple. The couple was Madonna and Guy Ritchie. The Malawian didn’t make a decision immediately.
He spoke with other members of his family, and they all agreed that it was best to let the boy go. They believed that it would give the young boy a chance to live a better life. The Banda family believed that if he stayed in Malawi, the best he could realistically Hope for was to become a herder, a petty trader or a subsistence farmer, but leaving the country would give David the platform to have a good education and explore his talents, however, some welfare officials did not think it was the best decision. The director of a Wellestablished Infant Home in Malawi Said only children without any living parents and circumstances that make it unlikely that they can ever return to their extended family are selected for adoption.
This was a very Unusual case, But Johann believed it was the best thing to do for his boy, Although he was In The orphanage, David was Suffering From pneumonia And His future Was looking bleak, My interest is in the child’s best chance for health and education, It was a hard choice to make, but when it seemed likely that David would have a better life with a new family, I could not say no, Five years later, Madonna Came Back To Malawi And Johann Got to see his son again, he said he asked Me Who I was When I told him I am your Daddy, he looked surprised, It’s amazing How David has grown, I can’t believe he is the same small and sickly baby we left at the Home of Hope, he seems to be a polite boy For he asked if he could Sit On my lap, he asked me lots of questions about lots of things, he asked me whether I ride horses,
I told him Horses Are For The rich And he asked me Why I am poor, he told me His Mum Likes Riding horses And That he too rides horses 16 Years Later, You Can’t help But Agree that YoHa’s Decision Has Been vindicated, David Joined The Benfica Youth Academy At The Age Of eleven, The Young Man Is A Midfielder And On His Way To Becoming A Football Star, In A Few Years, He Would Be Promoted To The First Team, David Is Not Only A Footballer, But Also A Model And Also Plays The Guitar On His 16th Birthday, The Seventime Grammy Winner Posted Several Pictures Of Her Son And Wrote A Touching Tribute To him, she wrote, David Banda, I Cannot believe You Rode Into This Young man, this Artist, This Athlete, This Articulate And Charismatic human, Who Knew When I Met You At Home Of Hope Orphanage In Malawi Drinking Coke Out Of A Baby Bottle And Wearing No Diaper That You would become this Force Of Nature?
David Has Grown To Become Everything His Dad Hoped He Would Be, And I’m Sure Johann Is Very Proud Of Him, What Parts Of The Story Do You Find Most Inspiring? See You Next time.
