Dear Madonna Fans,

Please Join Us on fundraising for Raising Malawi to help Madonna to achieve her dream to revitalize the lives of hundreds of thousands orphaned and vulnerable children in Malawi. We would like to raise hopefully 50, 000.00

You can also donate online:
click here to make a donation online at raisingmalawi.org

After you donate, please email me at admin@welovemadonna.com with the amount so we can count it against our goal.

CLICK here for I Am Because We Are - documentary will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2008. Click here to access the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival

Dear Friends, I am so excited to bring you the first official news for this labor of love that I have spent the last two years working on. We have recently been accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival and "I AM BECAUSE WE ARE" will debut on the 24th of April. I am thrilled to be part of this festival and to share with you the amazing journey this film has taken me on. Check out the Tribeca Film Festival website for dates, times and tickets at tribecafilmfestival.org As awareness grows around this film, we will keep you up to date with all the exciting news... "I AM BECAUSE WE ARE" is a reminder that we are not defined without each other. Love,

FEBRUARY 7, 2008

NEW YORK — The annual party Vanity Fair throws at Oscar time has been canceled.

But the next best thing took over the United Nations Wednesday night, when Madonna hosted a fundraiser for her charity, Raising Malawi, and UNICEF.

There was a star everywhere you looked. Such is the pull of Gucci, which opened its massive Fifth Avenue store this week and sponsored the event, and the queen of entertainment, Madonna. When she goes somewhere, she brings friends. Lots of them.

"Madonna brings me out. She has been a very close friend of mine for a very long time, and she asked me to attend," said Gwyneth Paltrow, in pink Gucci. "I think she asked me over dinner one night. She has done so much good."

Madonna founded Raising Malawi with Kabbalah co-director Michael Berg in 2006; the charity aims to improve the lives of poor children in the African nation. Madonna herself, accompanied by daughter Lola, 11, didn't speak to the media much, but was the center of attention both at the cocktail party and the dinner, where security was so tight that guests had to walk through metal detectors and go through multiple ID checks before being allowed inside.

"I admire what she's doing, and I admire what UNICEF does," said Tom Cruise. "Her office called me. I've known Madonna for years. I really admire her."

Added his wife, Katie Holmes, in a scarlet Alexander McQueen: "We have friends here we're looking forward to seeing."

"It's a very worthy cause, and Madonna is a very good friend. We're supportive of each other's life endeavors. It's something that means a lot to her and to me," said Rosie O'Donnell, who added that Madonna called and invited her. "We're friends and friends call each other."

She wasn't wearing Gucci. "I believe it's an Eileen Fisher. I don't believe Gucci makes a size 18," said O'Donnell. "I don't shop there. It's very expensive."

Amy Adams turned up with designer Narciso Rodriguez. Is she the rebel of the night for not wearing Gucci? "I guess so!" she laughed.
Singer Rihanna, who performed her hits Umbrella and Don't Stop the Music after dinner, is a big fan of Madonna. "Hell, yeah. She is unbelievable."

Madonna, meanwhile, greeted her friends and hung out with her daughter. At one point, the rock superstar introduced Lola to Vince Vaughn: "This is my daughter, Lola," she told the actor, who affably chatted up the child and said hello before telling his friend he needed a drink.

During an introductory speech later in the night, Madonna proved that even celebrities have trouble calming the nerves. "I don't think I've ever been more nervous in my life," she confessed during a speech before the dinner. "It would be much easier for me to perform in a soccer stadium filled with 80,000 people than stand up here and host this event."

When a fan screamed, "We love you," Madonna murmured a thank-you.
That's some high-profile love.

Jennifer Lopez, due any day with twins, rocked a Gucci gown and 5-inch heels. How she's feeling? "Very happy! Feeling really good," said Lopez before she gave the typical fierce poses in front of the cameras.

Cruise was spotted hugging Chris Rock, who discussed his home just outside the city. Lucy Liu told Holmes how beautiful she looks. Later, Rock chatted up his Bee Movie co-star Jerry Seinfeld.

Brooke Shields talked about her desire to meet Djimon Hounsou — and then went up to him and posed for a photo with him, girlfriend Kimora Lee Simmons and starlet Camilla Belle.

Is that the biggest perk of being a former Oscar nominee? "Absolutely!" Hounsou said. "It makes you feel like a king. But really, truly, it's a great event, and I'm happy Madonna went out of her way to raise money for this. It's a country much needing of help," said the Blood Diamond star.
Nearby was Demi Moore, hugging Cruise and warmly greeting Holmes. Later, during dinner, Moore talked with Lola about switching schools. A pregnant Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale headed toward the cocktail party, and she told him, "I'm just following you."

Despite the star wattage, the focus was on the cause. "I think you can go out and support a lot of things that are fun-spirited, or a personal project that you're working on. But when it's something global and life-changing and important like this — this is what we should be talking about out in the world," said Drew Barrymore, accompanied by Justin Long. "There's a lot of fluff, a lot of gossip, a lot of fodder that's sort of on people's minds, and I'd much prefer these types of subjects to be encompassing their brains and hearts, so this is why we came out."

But stars can be just like us. Surrounded by all this fabulousness, Barrymore and Long had one thought before dinner: finding the potty. "I think I have to pee," the actress announced to her boyfriend.

Source: USA TODAY by Donna Freydkin and Andrea Mandell

Source: The Associated Press by John Heilprin

FEBRUARY 6, 2008

For the upcoming A Night to Benefit Raising Malawi and UNICEF
Madonna’s Gucci charity concert/party/auction is scheduled for February 6, 2008.

To celebrate the opening of the new Fifth Avenue Gucci store, Gucci and Madonna will throw a charity dinner, a concert and a party.

Joining Madonna in the celebrations will be Drew Barrymore, Adrien Brody, Arpad Busson, Frida Giannini, Salma Hayek, Francois-Henri Pinault, Téa Leoni, Lucy Liu, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Sting and more.

Performances by: Alicia Keyes, Rihanna, Timbaland and live auction by Chris Rock

This special evening will be dedicated to raising funds and awareness for orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Proceeds from the massive event will go to benefit UNICEF and a charity co-founded by Madonna, Raising Malawi.

Raising Malawi and Nutracea to feed Malawi Children

In Malawi, there are approximately 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS, 70,000 people living with Tuberculosis, and 18% of all hospital deaths are attributed to Malaria.

Raising Malawi is working to elevate the existence of children suffering from these diseases in Malawi by supporting grass organizations that provide state-of-the-art medical care, home based care, bed nets, clean drinking water, nutritious meals, and other support.

On inspiring others to join her cause and take action, Madonna says, “You have to give people solutions, and you have to invite them to get involved in whatever way they can, whether that's doing volunteer work or taking a portion of their salary and figuring out where they want that money to go. You have to find ways to inspire people to get involved."

To make a donation to Raising Malawi, click HERE. To volunteer, please contact Rachel Strickland, at: volunteer@raisingmalawi.org

For information on Raising Malawi, please contact Philippe van den Bossche, at: philippe@raisingmalawi.org

DECEMBER 2, 2007

LILONGWE, Malawi — Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid.

But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the World Food Program of the United Nations than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe.

In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the United Nations Children’s Fund sent three tons of powdered milk, stockpiled here to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. “We will not be able to use it!” Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Unicef’s deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly.

Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary turnaround — one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa — with one word: fertilizer.

Over the past 20 years, the World Bank and some rich nations Malawi depends on for aid have periodically pressed this small, landlocked country to adhere to free market policies and cut back or eliminate fertilizer subsidies, even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers. But after the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi’s newly elected president, decided to follow what the West practiced, not what it preached.

Stung by the humiliation of pleading for charity, he led the way to reinstating and deepening fertilizer subsidies despite a skeptical reception from the United States and Britain. Malawi’s soil, like that across sub-Saharan Africa, is gravely depleted, and many, if not most, of its farmers are too poor to afford fertilizer at market prices.

“As long as I’m president, I don’t want to be going to other capitals begging for food,” Mr. Mutharika declared. Patrick Kabambe, the senior civil servant in the Agriculture Ministry, said the president told his advisers, “Our people are poor because they lack the resources to use the soil and the water we have.”

The country’s successful use of subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the crucial role of agriculture in alleviating poverty in Africa and the pivotal importance of public investments in the basics of a farm economy: fertilizer, improved seed, farmer education, credit and agricultural research.

Malawi, an overwhelmingly rural nation about the size of Pennsylvania, is an extreme example of what happens when those things are missing. As its population has grown and inherited landholdings have shrunk, impoverished farmers have planted every inch of ground. Desperate to feed their families, they could not afford to let their land lie fallow or to fertilize it. Over time, their depleted plots yielded less food and the farmers fell deeper into poverty.

Malawi’s leaders have long favored fertilizer subsidies, but they reluctantly acceded to donor prescriptions, often shaped by foreign-aid fashions in Washington, that featured a faith in private markets and an antipathy to government intervention.

In the 1980s and again in the 1990s, the World Bank pushed Malawi to eliminate fertilizer subsidies entirely. Its theory both times was that Malawi’s farmers should shift to growing cash crops for export and use the foreign exchange earnings to import food, according to Jane Harrigan, an economist at the University of London.

In a withering evaluation of the World Bank’s record on African agriculture, the bank’s own internal watchdog concluded in October not only that the removal of subsidies had led to exorbitant fertilizer prices in African countries, but that the bank itself had often failed to recognize that improving Africa’s declining soil quality was essential to lifting food production.

“The donors took away the role of the government and the disasters mounted,” said Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University economist who lobbied Britain and the World Bank on behalf of Malawi’s fertilizer program and who has championed the idea that wealthy countries should invest in fertilizer and seed for Africa’s farmers.

Here in Malawi, deep fertilizer subsidies and lesser ones for seed, abetted by good rains, helped farmers produce record-breaking corn harvests in 2006 and 2007, according to government crop estimates. Corn production leapt to 2.7 million metric tons in 2006 and 3.4 million in 2007 from 1.2 million in 2005, the government reported.

“The rest of the world is fed because of the use of good seed and inorganic fertilizer, full stop,” said Stephen Carr, who has lived in Malawi since 1989, when he retired as the World Bank’s principal agriculturalist in sub-Saharan Africa. “This technology has not been used in most of Africa. The only way you can help farmers gain access to it is to give it away free or subsidize it heavily.”

Women in the Dezda district of Malawi pounding corn to make nsima, the thick cornmeal porridge that is the national staple. Malawi's government ignored experts and supplied heavy fertilizer subsidies to farmers, contributing to record-breaking corn harvests.

The Malawian countryside, with lands plowed and read for planting to begin. Farmers explained Malawi's extraordinary turnaround - one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa - with one word: fertilizer.

Community leaders attended a workshop to learn how to use fertilizer on their maize crops. This year, Malawi is selling more corn to the United Nations World Food Program than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe.

A woman planting maize seeds in her field in Zomba. Malawi's successful use of fertilizer subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the crucial role of agriculture in alleviating poverty in Africa.

Chief Zaudeni Mapila addressed villagers during a fertilizer coupon meeting. Last year, roughly half the country's farming families received coupons that entitled them to buy two 110-pound bags of fertilizer, enough to nourish an acre of land.

Workers loaded fertilizer bags onto trucks for distribution. Malawi, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world, is instead feeding its hungry neighbors.

After the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Malawi's newly-elected president led the way to reinstating and deepening fertilizer subsidies despite a skeptical reception from the United States and Britain.

A grain storage building was constructed in Malawi. The country's successful use of fertilizer subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the pivotal importance of public investments in the basics of a farm economy: fertilizer, improved seed, farmer education, credit and agricultural research.

Lontiya Samuel removing corn kernels from the cob in her maize storeroom. As a recipient of the government fertilizer subsidies, she managed to increase her crop yield.

Source: The New York Times / Photo: Evelyn Hockstein

NOVEMBER 20, 2007

LILONGWE (Reuters) - The Malawi government on Tuesday applauded Madonna's efforts to put the plight of the country's AIDS orphans on the global stage and raising money to support them.

The American singer said last week she would work with luxury goods maker Gucci to raise at least $2 million for Malawi's one million orphans.
Madonna and the Italian firm will host a fundraising event with dinner, musical performance and a party on February 6 next year to mark the opening of Gucci's largest store in the world, on New York's Fifth Avenue.

"What she is doing for orphans of this country very few super stars like her can do that, she has managed to put their plight on the world stage," government spokesperson and Information Minister Patricia Kaliati told Reuters.

"Madonna has built clinics in rural areas where government has failed to reach and because of that she has saved many lives of pregnant mothers who could have died," she said.

Madonna said the charity event would benefit UNICEF and the charity she co-founded in 2006, Raising Malawi, which focuses on trying to help Malawi's orphans, many of whose parents have died of AIDS.

Source: Reuters by Mabvuto Banda; Editing by Phumza Macanda / Tue Nov 20, 6:30 AM ET

NOVEMBER 15, 2007

NEW YORK - November 15th 2007: Madonna and Gucci will host an exclusive fundraising event on February 6, 2008 to celebrate the opening of Gucci's largest store in the world, the New York 5th Avenue Flagship. Co-chaired by Gucci's Creative Director, Frida Giannini, this event will benefit Raising Malawi and UNICEF, and will consist of dinner followed by a guest speaker, musical performance and an after party. This special evening will be dedicated to raising funds and awareness for orphans and children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Joining Madonna and Frida Giannini is a list of distinguished co-chairs, including Adrien Brody, Arpad Busson, Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault, Téa Leoni, Lucy Liu, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, and Sting and Trudie Styler.

Both together and individually, Gucci and Madonna share a history of commitment to the fight against AIDS, as well as support for orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Beginning in 1997, Madonna served as Honorary Co-chair of the record-breaking Gucci fundraising event for Aids Project Los Angeles. Ten years later, Gucci and Madonna have both responded to the global circumstances of the AIDS pandemic, pursuing interests on behalf of orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

"I am grateful that Gucci is joining forces with me to bring attention to a country with millions of children in desperate need of our help" said Madonna. "Raising Malawi has already done tremendous work in helping these children. But we have much more to do and this event will surely bring us closer to our goal."

Since 2006, Raising Malawi has been dedicated to bringing an end to the extreme poverty and hardship endured by Malawi's one million orphans, over half of whom have been orphaned by AIDS. Co-founded by Madonna, Raising Malawi provides thousands of children with physical assistance, long-term sustainability, and psycho-social programs to address their emotional needs through several community-based projects including orphan care centers, orphanages, medical clinics, crisis nurseries, feeding programs and a soon-to-come girls' boarding school.

Gucci has been a UNICEF corporate partner since 2004, starting with a local holiday event in Los Angeles, and growing to a global campaign in over twenty countries in 2005. The Gucci campaign supports UNICEF programs in Malawi and Mozambique, where over one million children have been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Gucci's support has enabled UNICEF to provide lifesaving healthcare, protection, clean water and education to orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS. "AIDS is one of the most devastating public health problems in recent history," said Caryl Stern, President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. "Every day, 6,000 children lose a parent to AIDS, and 1,400 children die from AIDS. We can't thank Gucci and Madonna enough for their commitment to helping UNICEF fight the battle against HIV and AIDS. By helping us raise funds, they are helping children in Africa to survive and thrive."

"We are honored to have Madonna host this very special event with us, celebrating the opening of our New York Fifth Avenue flagship store while generating funds for Raising Malawi and UNICEF," said Mark Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Gucci. "At this significant moment in Gucci's history, we are proud to continue our commitment to a cause of great importance to the company. We are inspired by the work of Raising Malawi and UNICEF - organizations that are improving life in communities devastated by HIV/AIDS, and helping thousands of children in their daily struggle to survive."

The event is being entirely underwritten by Gucci, so every dollar raised will go directly to the important work of Raising Malawi and UNICEF.

Source: Reuters / Thu Nov 15, 2007 8:45pm EST

Madonna in Malawi, 2006

AUGUST 29, 2007

Humanitarian Aid Reaches Over 10,000 HIV/AIDS Affected Orphans in Lilongwe, Malawi

Raising MalawiSM
Phone: (310) 601-1023

Feed The Children®
Phone: (800) 627-4556

Helping World Hunger: International Food Programs
Millions of pregnant and lactating women and young children suffer from malnutrition. In some developing countries, malnutrition rates have soared as high as 48%. In response to this epidemic NutraCea created a series or projects on world hunger. NutraCea has developed a series of nutrient-dense products derived from rice bran that are designed to help world hunger by helping to reverse malnutrition.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NutraCea's RiceAde CLICK HERE

Source: nutracea.com

JUNE 30, 2007

Orphan Care Center in Malawi is now open!

In collaboration with Consol Homes, we have opened a state of the art Orphan Care Centre to serve approximately 4,000 children. Consol Homes is a well-respected community based organization best known for the creation of the Orphan Affairs Unit, a unique psycho-social program (endorsed and promoted by UNICEF) for orphaned children whereby orphans lead, manage and implement programs for other orphans.

The Raising Malawi-Consol Homes Orphan Care Center is providing children in the village of Mphandula, Namitete (Lilongwe district) with a safe haven where they can eat nutritious meal, receive basic education, enjoy playtime activities, and learn crucial life skills through a specialized resiliency-building program, SFK-Malawi, among other programs.

Today, thousands of orphans and elderly caregivers are improving the quality of their lives and enjoying the benefits of:

* a spacious community hall and kitchen
* a state-of-the-art pre-school unit
* a well-managed Orphan Affairs Unit
* a nurturing Widows and Grandmother (AGOGO) Centre
* a practical demonstration garden
* a safe play area

Through the Raising Malawi-Consol Home Orphan Care Centre, the orphans of Mphandula Village are being given the opportunity to enjoy childhood and take control of their lives - so they can do more than just survive.

Join forces with Raising Malawi and Consol Homes to feed, educate and nurture more children in need TODAY!

Source: Raising Malawi

JUNE 6, 2007

Raising Malawi - Madonna lends a hand

Madonna has done her homework. And her fieldwork. She first visited Malawi in April 2006 after Victoria Keelan, a native Malawian businesswoman, reached out to her because of the work Madonna has done with Spirituality for Kids, a nonprofit organization which aids children in impoverished and devastated areas across the globe. Madonna recalls that Keelan advised, “Look, if you’re in the business of helping children, we have over a million orphans here in Malawi and the problem is insane. It’s an emergency. And they need your help.”

This past October, Madonna took her second trip to Malawi—one of the poorest countries in the world, with 42 percent of its citizens living on less than a dollar a day—and adopted her son David, almost two, who, at the time, was suffering from malaria and pneumonia. In this nation of about 13 million, one million are children who have lost at least one parent to aids.

Madonna was spurred to action. She met with medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, who has dedicated his life to raising the standard of health care for the world’s destitute, and had conversations with Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, at the Harvard School of Public Health. Through her Raising Malawi organization, she joined a team that began setting up Millennium Villages, which provide maize seed and fertilizer to households, build water and sanitation infrastructures, help start schools, and make medicine more accessible.

Currently, she is working with film director Nathan Rissman on a documentary which aims not only to heighten awareness and effect change in Africa but also to explore what goes on in the heads and hearts of orphaned children. “I’m making my own discoveries as I go,” she says. “You have those great moments of despair and inspiration simultaneously.”

Source: vanityfair.com by Punch Hutton

MAY 15, 2007

Malawi, Africa – Madonna was greeted warmly as she returned to Africa last month to oversee the progress of Raising Malawi.

In January, 2006 Madonna co-founded Raising Malawi with Michael Bergto revitalize the lives of hundreds of thousands of underprivileged and at-risk children.

Madonna’s journey included site visits to:

Lilongwe (Malawi’s capital): Madonna attended SFK-Malawi classes at the government-run Social Rehabilitation Centre, and met with street children attending the program. SFK-Malawi is a specialized empowerment program tailored to meet the unique needs and circumstances of Malawi’s vulnerable children. “Madonna’s visit to the Social Rehab Centre was a pleasure,” said Sylvia Namakhwa, SFK-Malawi’s Executive Director. “Her support of SFK-Malawi is an inspiration and deeply appreciated.” To date, SFK-Malawi has graduated hundreds of children and has gained the support of government and traditional authority leaders in Malawi.

Also in Lilongwe, Madonna toured the Raising Malawi Consol Homes Orphan Care Centre. The Orphan Care Centre is one of Raising Malawi’s most expansive initiatives. Once open, the Centre will provide food, education, psycho-social programs, playtime activities, and support for elderly caregivers in the community. In addition to this, the Orphan Care Centre sets a new standard for community based child care centres across Malawi.

Mchinji District: Madonna toured the U.N. backed Millennium Village project (www.millenniumpromise.org). This project provides long-term agricultural, economic, medical, educational, and social sustainability for thousands of Malawian families, and has advanced the Millennium Promise goal of eliminating extreme poverty by the year 2025. As a result of the newly implemented Millennium Promise strategies in Gumulira:

* crop growth doubled last year creating a rare food surplus in the village;
* interventions in the way of education and water contamination have taken place, producing viable results;
* nearly 100% of all local households have been provided with bed nets - which will reduce the instances of malaria by up to 60 percent.

During her stay in Mchinji, Madonna visited the Home of Hope Orphanage where major building renovations are underway. These renovations include the refurbishing of dormitories, classrooms, a kitchen, a medical clinic, and several houses. Home of Hope currently serves over 500 orphaned children. Madonna also attended SFK-Malawi classes at the Orphanage.

Malawi Countryside: Madonna traveled the countryside to gather more facts and footage for her upcoming documentary. The documentary will focus on the plight of Malawi’s orphans while discussing possible solutions for their future. Through her travels, Madonna has identified various solutions for helping Malawi’s children achieve their highest potential and create lasting change in the country - one of which is the SFK-Malawi program. Currently, SFK-Malawi is being offered to approximately 700 children through Home of Hope Orphanage, Consol Homes, and the Social Rehabilitation Centre.

Raising Malawi is currently providing support for over 100,000 orphans and other vulnerable children through several community based organizations and other projects.

For information, please contact Philippe van den Bossche, at: philippe@raisingmalawi.org

APRIL 20, 2007

Source: AP - Karel Prinsloo / Reuters - Siphiwe Sibeko

Madonna urges Malawi youths to work hard

Madonna, the one-time backing dancer who grafted her way to becoming the 'Queen of Pop', on Thursday urged Malawian youths to work hard to realise their potential.

'Keep working hard. I hope you realise how much power you have to make a good future for yourselves,' the US singer told scores of cheering and dancing villagers when she inspected a modern-day care centre her charity Raising Malawi Organisation has built at Mphandula village, 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of the capital Lilongwe.

Making her first public speech since she landed here on Monday to continue her charity work in this impoverished African nation, Madonna, wearing a maroon T-shirt with the word Love, said: 'It is exciting to be here at the centre.'

'It was a bush before and there was nothing, now there are these beautiful buildings. It is not the buildings that matter, but your kind heart for giving this land freely.'

'Remember, this is a partnership. I have heard people say please come back, this is a partnership and also help yourself and do your part.'
Alfred Chapomba, founder of the Consol Homes orphans charity, which has partnered Madonna's group, gave the star a half-hour tour of the campus as women danced and sang praises to their important visitor.
Traditional chief Kalolo thanked Madonna for the infrastructure, saying: 'We are now proud villagers who are seeing this type of development for the first time in our lives.'

The chief told Madonna to continue developing the village, home to about 2,500 people, but with neither running water nor electricity. 'Thank you for everything.'

A local band equipped with home-made instruments entertained Madonna for 10 minutes, with the 'Material Girl' and David throwing a step and dancing to the amusement of the villagers, most of whom did not wear shoes.

Aida Kapondera, 62, vigourosly danced with Madonna for 10 minutes to the sounds of the band.

'I enjoyed dancing with her,' Kapondera told AFP, wiping sweat from her forehead.

Photographers were kept away by Madonna's bodyguards from the hall where the singer and her adopted son mixed freely with the villagers.

Source: AFP Via Yahoo! News

APRIL 19, 2007

Madonna tour Consol Homes, a day care center that she is funding in the village of Masekese, Malawi

Madonna urges Malawi villagers to "help themselves"

Madonna wore a T-shirt proclaiming 'Love' and danced to the rhythm of a pop song at the opening of a day care center Thursday, one of the projects she's funding in Malawi.

The 48-year-old singer was greeted by singing children as she toured the center, run by local charity Consol Homes.

Her latest visit is to check on projects run by her Raising Malawi organization.

Local children performed the Paul Simon-Joseph Shabalala hit 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,' playing traditional instruments and singing. Madonna danced to the refrain.

'You should not expect much from me alone but we are working together as a partnership,' she told local officials.

The center will eventually provide education and food for up to 4,000 children from surrounding rural areas.

Consol Homes Director Jacinta Chapombsa said parents would be able to bring their children to the center knowing they would receive a basic education and food.

Source: Reuters by Mabvuto Banda

Young girls wait for singer Madonna to tour Consol Homes, a day care center that she is funding in the village of Masekese, Malawi, Thursday, April 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Woman and children sing and dance as they wait for singer Madonna at Consol Homes, a day care center that she is funding in the village of Masekese, Malawi, Thursday, April 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Madonna visited an orphan care centre run by Raising Malawi, a grassroots initiative by Madonna, in Mphendula Village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital Lilongwe April 19, 2007. Madonna danced with Malawian children on Thursday during a visit to an orphanage and urged them to "help themselves" instead of relying on her.

Locals gather at an orphan care center run by Raising Malawi, a grassroots initiative by Madonna, in Mphendula Village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital Lilongwe April 19, 2007. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (MALAWI)

Young boys wait to see Madonna and her adopted son David Banda at an orphan care centre run by Raising Malawi, a grassroots initiative by Madonna, in Mphendula Village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital Lilongwe April 19, 2007. Madonna was at the centre to hand over the keys to the orphanage. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (MALAWI)

A mother stands as she carries her child on her back at an orphan care centre run by Raising Malawi, a grassroots initiative by Madonna, in Mphendula Village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital Lilongwe April 19, 2007. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (MALAWI)

A girl holds her mother's hand at an orphan care centre run by Raising Malawi, a grassroots initiative by Madonna, in Mphendula Village, about 40 km (25 miles) from the capital Lilongwe April 19, 2007. Madonna was at the centre to hand over the keys to the orphanage. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (MALAWI)

APRIL 18, 2007

Madonna tours Raising Malawi Consol Homes Orphan Care Centre, a day care center in the village of Masekese, Malawi

- Construction of the Raising Malawi Consol Homes Orphan Care Centre (pictured above) is 90% complete. Upon completion, the Centre will establish a new standard of child care centers throughout the country.

- SFK Malawi has established a “Street Kids” program to benefit homeless Malawian children who have been victimized by physical, emotional and sexual abuses.

Madonna talk to Philippe van den Bossche, Executive Director of Raising Malawi as she leave a center for street children, Wednesday, April 18, 2007 in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Malawians hold up posters for Madonna as she visits a center for street children, Wednesday, April 18, 2007 in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

Madonna visits Malawian kids' center

Madonna visited a center for street children that benefits from the charity work the pop star is doing in this impoverished southern African country.

Singing and clapping were heard coming from children inside what is called a social rehabilitation center in the capital. The center cares for about two dozen children, providing them with food, clothing and schooling before reintegrating them into their communities.

Source: AP Via Yahoo! News

A local holds placards as he waits to catch a glimpse of Madonna outside the social rehabilitation centre in Lilongwe April 18, 2007. (Eldson Chagara/Reuters)

APRIL 17, 2007

Madonna visited the Home of Hope Orphanage earlier today in Mchinji

- Raising Malawi announced plans to renovate the Home of Hope Orphanage in Malawi’s Mchinji district. Home of Hope currently provides food, clothing, education, medical care, and shelter for over 500 orphaned children. The renovation includes the refurbishing of Home of Hope’s dormitories, classrooms, kitchen, a medical clinic, and several houses.

- Raising Malawi intends to provide support for all of these projects while continuing to seek out new opportunities to impact the lives of vulnerable children in Malawi.

Madonna chats with an orphaned girl at the Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji village,135 km (84 miles) west of the capital Lilongwe, April 17, 2007. Schoolchildren pelted reporters' cars with stones to keep them away from Madonna on Tuesday as the pop star visited the orphanage where the Malawian boy she is adopting once lived. (Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

Children at the church-run Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji, a village near the Zambian border, sang and recited lessons for Madonna while Lourdes took video footage.

Madonna's security and police tried to stop journalists and onlookers from entering the orphanage compound. But villagers, mainly children, clamored over the waist-high wall and rushed in.

The orphanage has been the scene of much excitement in recent weeks with the road leading to it graded, new flowers planted and new uniforms for the children.

Madonna is visiting Malawi to oversee her charity projects in this impoverished country. She aims to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 Malawian children through her Raising Malawi organization.

'It's great,' the pop star said when asked how it felt to be back in Malawi.

Source: AP Via Yahoo! News

APRIL 16, 2007

LILONGWE, Malawi - Madonna flew to Malawi on a silver jet Monday to continue her charity work in the impoverished southern African country.

After a rest in Lilongwe, Madonna toured U.N.-backed development projects in the small village of Mtanga, where farmers are being helped to grow maize and start fish farming.

The singer, dressed in combat trousers, khaki T-shirt and black boots, was greeted by singing women and children as she inspected the maize crop and storage facilities and stood by the fish pond.

Madonna's New York-based publicist Liz Rosenberg said the singer was visiting to continue her work with her Raising Malawi organization.

"She is overseeing the building of a children's health care center." Rosenberg said in a statement.

There has also been much activity at the Home of Hope orphanage where David was cared for. The road to the village of Mchinji have been graded, new flowers planted and the children have received new uniforms.

Source: AFP via Yahoo! News