Miss: Madonna denied baby in Africa

Judge Judge Esme Chombo ruled against Madonna's adoption of a baby girl in Malawi:
The bid was shot down due to a requirement that prospective parents live in Malawi for at least 18 month before they can adopt. A judge waived that rule when Madonna took her adopted son David with her to London in 2006. It is unclear why the judge ruled differently this time. Madonna’s attempt to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James has created outcry amongst activists who claim the girl would be better off with relatives. "I must confess that there's a gripping temptation to throw caution to the wind and grant an adoption in the hope that there will be a difference in the life of just one child," the judge said. The judge's overarching concern is about sidestepping Malawi's adoption procedures, which require an 18-to-24-month assessment, during which prospective parents must live in Malawi.Judge Chombo is concerned about child trafficking, ruling that to remove this safeguard "could actually facilitate trafficking of children by some unscrupulous individuals."

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I understand the Judge's concern about child traffickers, but I think that she should have thrown caution to the wind and given Madonna the opportunity to give this one child a better life. On one hand I see westerners adopting children from developing countries as a short term solution. why not sponsor these children and pay for their education so they can be a benefit to their country ( many people who do this). David, the first child Madonna was able to adopt from Malawi will not grow up to speak his birth language. Albeit, he will grow up to be well fed and educated young man, but if he doesn't know his culture, won't he be a very confused man?

Personally I dislike Madonna, and my intuitions tells me there is something morally corrupt about her, but research shows that she is a very good mother who brought up her three children bright and well mannered. Furthermore,Madonna has given a hefty donation to the orphanage that took in Mercy(the child she is trying to adopt currently.) In fact Madonna is currently financially helping 25,000 orphans in Malawi. We should all applaud Madonna for all that she is doing.Everyone has a motive or personal agenda for what they do. Whatever Madonna's is, I'm sure the many people who have spent years doing malaria research in Malawi appreciates the global attention directed Malawi's way.

So I leave it up to you to decide: should Madonna have given a hefty donation to the orphanage that took in little Mercy when her mother died of complications after childbirth, and left it at that, or was she right to apply to whisk that little girl off to some penthouse in New York? I suppose if I was in Mercy’s shoes, I know which option I’d choose. I’d be on that private jet and waving goodbye to poverty before you could finish uttering the word ‘culture’. Screw culture, we have Google now, anyone with the right resources can learn about any culture that interests them. I'm sure with all the resources that will be available to little Mercy, she would be able to learn about as many cultures as she chooses to learn about, especially her own.

As it now stands, Madonna has appealed the decision to Malawi's supreme court, and may yet win an exception to the country's law. Such a result would be a blessing for young Mercy. Stay tuned...