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Madonna to build Malawi school
14/05/2008 14:03 - (SA)
Lilongwe - US pop diva Madonna
plans to start building a multi-million-dollar girls' school in
Malawi for underprivileged children this year, her local lawyer
said on Wednesday.
"A task force of four prominent Malawians has already been
formed to head the project which will be on the scale of what
Oprah Winfrey has in South Africa," Madonna's lawyer Alan
Chinula told Reuters.
"It is a multi-million dollar project and we will get the
real costs in the next two weeks."
Billionaire US television magnate Winfrey has built a $40m all-girl leadership academy in South Africa which boasts
state-of-the-art facilities including laboratories, a yoga
studio and beauty salon.
Malawi's High Court is expected to approve Madonna's bid to
adopt two-year-old Malawian David Banda on Thursday. Malawi's
government and David's father - his only surviving parent -
have endorsed the adoption.
Madonna will not attend the final court ruling on her
adoption bid because she is busy with other engagements, Chinula
said on Tuesday.
The adoption has been controversial, with critics accusing
the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from
adopting children in Malawi, which has been ravaged by an Aids
epidemic that has produced more than one million orphans.
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