Madonna urged Malawian to help themselves

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April 20, 2007

Madonna urged Malawian to help themselves

Madonna danced with Malawian children on Thursday during a visit to an orphanage and urged them to "help themselves" instead of relying on her.

Wearing dark glasses and clutching the one-year-old Malawian boy she is adopting, the singer toured the $120,000 facility that is home to 4,000 orphans and which she helped to fund.

Surrounded by children, she jived to Malawian music accompanied by pounding traditional drums as staff and villagers sang "Madonna thank you for coming".

"This is a partnership, it's not (for) me to do everything but we need to work together and you have to help yourselves," Madonna told orphans, adults from the local village and orphanage staff.

HIV/AIDS has killed millions in Malawi, leaving more than a million orphans.

Raising Malawi, a charity co-founded by Madonna, provides food, education and health services to 32,000 orphans in the southern African country through seven community-based organizations.

This is Madonna's second visit to Malawi six months after she and her film director husband Guy Ritchie signed interim adoption papers for custody of local toddler David Banda.

David will stay with the couple for 18 months at their home in London before a decision by the Malawian government on whether to finalize the adoption.

Rights groups have accused Madonna of using her fame and wealth to circumvent the country's adoption rules, but the singer has insisted she is following the law.

Madonna's spokeswoman has denied media reports the American star plans to adopt a second child and said she is focusing on her charity work in Malawi during this visit.

Thursday's trip to the orphanage comes at the end of a three-day visit to Malawi, during which Madonna visited the Home of Hope orphanage where David once lived, and where witnesses said he met his biological father.

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