We’ve covered this before HERE. The father is right to complain about those criticizing Madonna’s taking over care of his son, whatever the label we put on it. Even as a pampered token child in an eccentric celebrity household his life will be better in the Madonna household than in an orphanage in Africa. (Sadly.)

The father of the 13-month-old Malawian boy Madonna is trying to adopt said he is afraid criticism of her plans would persuade the pop star to drop her efforts.

“I am afraid Madonna may get angry and frustrated and decide to dump my son because of these people,” said Yohane Banda, referring to criticism from human rights activists in Malawi that officials had bent the law to speed David Banda’s adoption.

“These so-called human rights activists are harassing me every day, threatening me that I am not aware of what I am doing,” Banda said Thursday. “I’m afraid David may be sent back and the orphanage may not even accept him back. So where will he end up? Here? He will certainly die.”

Then again, some would argue that living with Madonna is a fate worse than death.



  1. Gregory says:

    Some might… but they’d be wrong. It’s a hard punchline to swallow when you know what goes on there…

  2. ap says:

    I think this has more to do with white American pop start adopts black African child. American ideology is: African children should stay in Africa (we have enough), and American should only interact with them via Sally Struthers. The media is painting this act of kind heartedness and compassion out of be the crime of the centaury?

  3. AB CD says:

    Why was he in an orphanage if his father is alive?

  4. tallwookie says:

    yeah I agree w/ #3 – whats up with that

    is the “dad” not really the biological father? Or (more likely) is he trying to get his 15 sec of fame? Reminds me of the whole eliian-gonzales-useless-media… remember him?

  5. Podesta says:

    LOL @ NotSoSmartAlix. As if Madonna would let him live with her.

    The father is extremely poor. He has already had two small sons die on him, and his wife. About 30 percent of children born in Malawi don’t live to be five.

    I said something similar to ap’s response on the other thread. Much of this attack on Madonna and the previous one on Angelina Jolie have to do with white Americans’ discomfort with seeing black people being treated as if they are fully human.

  6. ECD says:

    Why couldn’t Madonna adopt a needy American child? I don’t get it.

  7. joshua says:

    the boys mother died in childbirth and the father was/is unemployed, so he gave the boy to the orphanage because he couldn’t feed him.

    Podesta, I think your way off base. People aren’t as bigoted as you seem to think, especially when it comes to needy children.
    Many African countries have the same anti-foriegner adoption rules. They were enacted to stop the selling of children to the highest bidder and to try and keep the children in their own culture.

    People like Podesta nd others will be the first to scream if a celebrity buys his/her way out of trouble or to get an advasntage normal people can’t have……but this is a prime example of just that. Malawi has an 18 month rule…..prospective parents, if not from Malawi must take up residence for 18 months, so they can be evaluated before the adoption. Madonna, paid the country 3.5 million pounds for it’s child care charities and bought the law change and the child.
    The father and the goverment are only worried she might send the kid back because they didn’t prominatly display there no cash refunds policy before the sale.

  8. Podesta says:

    Why is Joshua invariably decades late and grands short?

    The so-called law he referred to was passed by the British colonizers in the 1940s. Its purpose was to keep control of its supply of virtually slave labor, not to protect children. Not only could parents not escape their own exploitation, they could not help their children escape either.

    The millions of American children of color spending their entire childhoods in foster care because white Americans will not adopt them speaks for itself. So do the steering of minority children into special education and the disparity of treatment including such as suspension and expulsions from schools. I wish I was exaggerating.

  9. ChrisMac says:

    unless she puts him in a CocaCola uniform.. i don’t see a problem here


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