Madonna to help Malawi orphans
2006-08-04 07:31
New York - Madonna is always reinventing herself. In her latest role, she is a humanitarian with an ambitious plan to care for orphans in the Aids-ravaged African country of Malawi.
The 47-year-old pop star said: "For the last few years - now that I have children and now that I have what I consider to be a better perspective on life - I have felt responsible for the children of the world."
The singer is a mother of two children, a daughter, Lourdes, 9, and a son, Rocco, 5.
She said: "I've been doing bits and bobs about it and I suppose I was looking for a big, big project I could sink my teeth into."
It was reported that Madonna planned to raise at least $3m for programmes to support orphans in Malawi, and was giving $1m to fund a documentary about the plight of children there.
'We're put on earth to help people'
The singer, who planned to visit Africa in October, credited her faith in Kabbalah with shifting her priorities.
She said: "One of the main precepts of Kabbalah is that we're put on this earth to help people. And your job is to figure out how you can help, and what it is that you can do."
According to reports, an orphan care centre, being built with a goal of feeding and educating about 1 000 children a day, would have programmes based on spirituality for kids, Kabbalah's children's programme.
She had also teamed up with developing-world economic leader Jeffrey Sachs on programmes to improve the health, agriculture and economy of a village in Malawi.
She had also met with former president Bill Clinton about bringing low-cost medicines to the area.
Madonna's act 'publicity stunt in bad taste'
On Thursday, religious leaders in Italy criticised Madonna for wearing a crown of thorns and singing while hanging from a mirrored cross on her Confessions tour.
The prospect of the scene being repeated at her concert on Sunday in Rome's Olympic stadium, some three kilometers from the Vatican, prompted Catholic officials to denounce the act as a publicity stunt in bad taste.
Cardinal Ersilio Tonini was quoted as saying: "To crucify yourself in the city of the pope and the martyrs is an act of open hostility.
"It's a scandal created on purpose by astute merchants to attract publicity." Muslim and Jewish leaders also criticised the concert stunt.
Mario Scialoja, president of the Muslim World League in Italy, said: "It's not the first time Madonna stages such an act. We deplore it, we feel it is an act of bad taste.
Riccardo Pacifici, spokesperson for Rome's Jewish community, said: "We express solidarity with the Catholic world. It's a disrespectful act, and to do it in Rome is even worse."
- AP