Jun 12, 2009, 16:42 GMT
Johannesburg - Malawi, an impoverished southern African country, on Friday opted against biting one of the hands that feeds it by agreeing to US popstar Madonna's appeal for a little Mercy.
Three years after Madonna first plucked the infant David Banda from a Malawian orphanage at 13 months, the country's highest court cleared the way for her to give him a little sister from his backyard. EPA/PETER FOLEY
Three years after Madonna first plucked the infant David Banda from a Malawian orphanage at 13 months, the country's highest court cleared the way for her to give him a little sister from his backyard.
The Malawi Court of Appeal on Friday overturned an April ruling by the High Court, which declared Madonna ineligible to adopt four-year- old Chifundo (Mercy) James on the grounds she had not been resident in the country for 18 months.
The appeals court said the reasoning of the lower court, which had waived the residency requirement in giving Madonna and her ex-husband Guy Ritchie custody of David last year, was outdated.
These days, people often had more than one place of residence, the appeals judges noted.
Madonna was no 'sojourner' in Malawi, having demonstrated her commitment to the welfare of the country's more than 1 million orphans by founding a charity, Raising Malawi, that provides vulnerable children with food, education and healthcare.
Every child had the right to the love of a family, the judges ruled, agreeing with Madonna that Mercy would better cared for by the singer than an orphanage.
The judges also felt the High Court's decision had been overly influenced by media coverage.
When Madonna and ex-husband Guy Ritchie were granted custody of David in 2006, some Western commentators had reacted furiously, accusing her of using her celebrity status to circumvent the country's adoption laws.
The furore grew when it emerged David's father was still alive. Madonna's critics, including Malawian activists, argued she should have supported David's father, Yohane, to keep David instead of taking the baby, even with his consent.
While the singer came under attack - 'Shopping Mall-Awi: Madonna buys babies as baubles,' a New York Post columnist sneered - in Malawi, Madonna's attentions are mostly appreciated by the poor.
Reacting to Friday's ruling, Fatsani Chibima, a mother of two near Blantyre told the German Press Agency, dpa. 'I think this is good for the country. Mercy was suffering while she was in the orphanage but now she will begin a new life.'
Madonna first met Mercy at Kondanani Children's Village, an orphanage just south of Blantyre in 2006 - the year she took David back to live with her in London.
Malawi's underfunded orphanages are teeming with children, many of whom have lost one or both parents to the devastating AIDS pandemic. Mercy's teenage mother died shortly after giving birth.
As often happens in this hunger-prone country of 13 million mostly subsistence farmers, Mercy's extended family put her in care because they could not afford to care for her.
A security guard who is believed to be her father, James Kambewa, surfaced this year, vowing to oppose the adoption but his paternity claim has been ignored by the courts.
The judges on Friday instead drew attention to Madonna's 'financial stability' - a factor that sits uneasily with the Human Rights Consultative Committee, an umbrella group of NGOs that opposes foreign adoptions.
'I don't think there's a better life in America or England. Adoption should be the last resort,' says Undule Mwaksungula, chairman of the HRCC.
Mwaksungula fears that Friday's ruling means 'more adoption agencies will use this ruling and come to Malawi to adopt our children.'
What Malawi reallyt needs, he says, is an enviroment 'which is going to give all our children a better life and a better future.'
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