The father of a
Malawian boy adopted by pop diva Madonna wants to ask the
American singer how his son is getting on, a newspaper
reported on Tuesday.
"I don't have her
phone and mailing addresses. All I want is to find out
how my son is, but I don't know how I can do it," Malawi's
Daily Times newspaper quoted Yohane Banda as
saying. "I only talked to her once at the high court, and I
want to talk to her now and find out about my child."
The father of
1-year-old David Banda made the comments after the
newspaper presented him with a check for 400 pounds ($788)
from Scottish nun Christine Webster, who told the
paper she believes Banda would have been better off
staying in Malawi.
Madonna's
adoption of the child grabbed world headlines and caused
some human rights groups in Malawi to question whether
she had used her celebrity to bypass laws governing
the adoption of Malawians by foreigners.
Madonna signed
interim adoption papers when she and her husband,
filmmaker Guy Ritchie, visited in October on what they said
was a humanitarian mission to help Malawi orphans.
Under the interim
order, the child was to stay with Madonna for 18
months, during which time his progress would be monitored by
Malawian officials before deciding whether final
approval may be given for him to remain with her
family. The high court order angered human rights groups
who described it as illegal and took the issue to court.
The court has
since granted the advocacy groups an application to be part
of the adoption proceedings of Madonna, a move that offered
some relief for her as it did not amount to a green
light for the rights groups to mount a full challenge
against the adoption.
The controversy
over Madonna's adoption of the boy has helped to
spotlight the plight of orphans in Malawi.
Over 900,000
children in Malawi are orphaned, and another 500,000 have
lost at least one parent.
Banda dismissed
any suggestions that he wants the child back and asked
human rights groups not to interfere in his attempts to
speak with Madonna. "All I want is to find out how my
child is doing and not to have him back," he was
quoted as saying. (Reuters)