WHAT OTHERS SAY - Give Madonna all Africa's orphans

[Guest guest]

COMMENTARY

WHAT OTHERS SAY - Give Madonna all Africa's orphans

Story by CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO

Publication Date: 10/19/2006

It is surprising just how big a controversy pop superstar Madonna's

adoption of a 13-month-old Malawian boy has kicked up in the

international media.

At home, an attempt by group of 67 Malawian non-governmental

organisations to stop the adoption of Banda was overruled by the

High Court. If one had called for similar action to protest

corruption, it's doubtful so many of them would have signed up.

There is outrage outside Africa too. Mr Mick Hume, a columnist in The

Times of London, wrote that: " If Madonna wants to show how much she

cares for African orphans, why can't she just wear a plastic wristband

like every other moral poseur, instead of being photographed wearing a

Malawian baby on her back in a native sling? An African baby seems to

be the latest celebrity accessory. "

Celebrities (Bob Geldof, Bono, actress Angelina Jolie and the rest of

the do-good crowd ), he wrote, are " treating the whole of Africa as a

helpless baby to be adopted by Western parents. Madonna's child

charity is called 'Raising Malawi', as if the country were a toddler

to carry on her back. "

Ms Marie Staunton, of the charity Plan UK, writing in The Guardian,

argued that it was not enough for pop stars to adopt the millions of

orphans on the continent.

" It is grandmothers – often in their late thirties or forties – who

throughout Africa are providing the love and care that Aids orphans

need.

" They survive on meagre wages and yet they care for their

grandchildren – (as) they cope with their own chronic illnesses,

arthritis, and hypertension.

It is these women, with more and more mouths to feed, who need our

help. By providing them with chickens and goats to make a living and

support the children in their care, or even a small child benefit, we

could give just not one child the chance for a better life, but every

child in Malawi a future.

Understandably Banda's father, Yohame Banda, a farmer who put his son

in an orphanage after his mother died giving birth, isn't thinking of

all Malawi 's children, but his own. He accused the NGOs of being

" jealous of my son " .

" What's their interest? I want Banda to have a bright future, not to

live in this poverty, " he told The Associated Press.

I doubt the NGOs are being jealous, but one suspects they're being

hypocritical. The majority of NGOs in Africa are funded by money from

international charities and Western donors like Madonna.

And, as they campaign that Banda should remain in Malawi, the children

of the fat cats who head these NGOs are probably going to the best

private schools in Malawi and abroad. And possibly none of these

people has adopted an orphan.

The question of orphans in Africa, though, is bigger than the Madonna

flap indicates. Africa, the world's poorest continent, has an

estimated 43 million orphans, mostly because of Aids and conflict.

Ethiopia alone has about five million orphans, who are now costing the

government more than is spent each year on health or education.

Faced with this crisis, the head of Ethiopia's child adoption unit

illustrates how difficult the choices people confronted with the

problem have to make. He told The Times that the number of foreign

adoption agencies in the capital, Addis Ababa, had grown from four to

more than a dozen in less than two years.

" It is a difficult choice, " he said. " Who are we to deny them [the

orphans] the chance of an education and better life? Who are we to

send them [adoption agencies] away? "

The reality is that babies, as The Times notes, have become Africa's

fastest growing export. They haven't been attended by the kind of

protests we have seen over the adoption of Banda because, well,

Madonna was not adopting them.

The value of the current noise is it gives critics some good easy

publicity, but they cannot claim that they have only just discovered

that Westerners are snapping up African children. This therefore isn't

about " baby " Banda per se.

There's also a lot of liberal Western guilt over the adoption of

African children, partly because of history. Had Banda been a poor

Romanian child, the adoption would have raised less dust.

However the most objectionable is that a white woman adopting black

African children conjures images of a " native " being bought as if it

was during the slave trade – except this time, the " slave trader " is

wearing designer clothes, and has left something behind to placate the

people:.

Madonna's charity is setting up an orphanage for up to 4,000 children,

and the singer has said she wants to raise at least $3 million

(Sh216m) for programmes to support Aids orphans.

Another source of controversy derives from the media and NGOs'

distrust of rich and powerful people. Were Madonna a humble Baptist

minister from Leicester, she would have carted away without even

a single letter in the press.

Many people who consider themselves progressive sit uncomfortably in

this world, because it gives those with education, good jobs, and

influence a lot of power over the poor and weak.

It gives Madonna the influence to fast-track the adoption of Banda,

and it gives NGO careerists and journalists the clout to influence

public opinion and action. By criticising people like Madonna, they

will perpetuate the fiction that they are different. They aren't.

This also leads them to project suffering and poverty as something

noble, hence Ms Staunton's suggestion that the poor women caring for

Aids orphans in African villages are necessarily better mothers than

Madonna.

However, the reason they and everyone else work long hours, and spend

so much money buying a good education for their children, are so that

they can be successful and avoid Banda's fate. They know that it makes

all the difference if you are rich and successful.

There are no easy solutions to the orphan crisis in Africa, but as

happens to so many such children, if Banda hadn't been adopted, he

would probably have been murdered on the streets of Lilongwe by a mob

or a policeman before his 18th birthday.

Or he could have become one of the thousands of African illegal

immigrants who die in the Mediterranean trying to cross to Europe

hoping for a better life.

Little Banda is the goose that flew over the cuckoo's nest.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for

Convergence and New Products.

Write to the author

[Guest guest]

COMMENTARY

WHAT OTHERS SAY - Give Madonna all Africa's orphans

Story by CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO

Publication Date: 10/19/2006

It is surprising just how big a controversy pop superstar Madonna's

adoption of a 13-month-old Malawian boy has kicked up in the

international media.

At home, an attempt by group of 67 Malawian non-governmental

organisations to stop the adoption of Banda was overruled by the

High Court. If one had called for similar action to protest

corruption, it's doubtful so many of them would have signed up.

There is outrage outside Africa too. Mr Mick Hume, a columnist in The

Times of London, wrote that: " If Madonna wants to show how much she

cares for African orphans, why can't she just wear a plastic wristband

like every other moral poseur, instead of being photographed wearing a

Malawian baby on her back in a native sling? An African baby seems to

be the latest celebrity accessory. "

Celebrities (Bob Geldof, Bono, actress Angelina Jolie and the rest of

the do-good crowd ), he wrote, are " treating the whole of Africa as a

helpless baby to be adopted by Western parents. Madonna's child

charity is called 'Raising Malawi', as if the country were a toddler

to carry on her back. "

Ms Marie Staunton, of the charity Plan UK, writing in The Guardian,

argued that it was not enough for pop stars to adopt the millions of

orphans on the continent.

" It is grandmothers – often in their late thirties or forties – who

throughout Africa are providing the love and care that Aids orphans

need.

" They survive on meagre wages and yet they care for their

grandchildren – (as) they cope with their own chronic illnesses,

arthritis, and hypertension.

It is these women, with more and more mouths to feed, who need our

help. By providing them with chickens and goats to make a living and

support the children in their care, or even a small child benefit, we

could give just not one child the chance for a better life, but every

child in Malawi a future.

Understandably Banda's father, Yohame Banda, a farmer who put his son

in an orphanage after his mother died giving birth, isn't thinking of

all Malawi 's children, but his own. He accused the NGOs of being

" jealous of my son " .

" What's their interest? I want Banda to have a bright future, not to

live in this poverty, " he told The Associated Press.

I doubt the NGOs are being jealous, but one suspects they're being

hypocritical. The majority of NGOs in Africa are funded by money from

international charities and Western donors like Madonna.

And, as they campaign that Banda should remain in Malawi, the children

of the fat cats who head these NGOs are probably going to the best

private schools in Malawi and abroad. And possibly none of these

people has adopted an orphan.

The question of orphans in Africa, though, is bigger than the Madonna

flap indicates. Africa, the world's poorest continent, has an

estimated 43 million orphans, mostly because of Aids and conflict.

Ethiopia alone has about five million orphans, who are now costing the

government more than is spent each year on health or education.

Faced with this crisis, the head of Ethiopia's child adoption unit

illustrates how difficult the choices people confronted with the

problem have to make. He told The Times that the number of foreign

adoption agencies in the capital, Addis Ababa, had grown from four to

more than a dozen in less than two years.

" It is a difficult choice, " he said. " Who are we to deny them [the

orphans] the chance of an education and better life? Who are we to

send them [adoption agencies] away? "

The reality is that babies, as The Times notes, have become Africa's

fastest growing export. They haven't been attended by the kind of

protests we have seen over the adoption of Banda because, well,

Madonna was not adopting them.

The value of the current noise is it gives critics some good easy

publicity, but they cannot claim that they have only just discovered

that Westerners are snapping up African children. This therefore isn't

about " baby " Banda per se.

There's also a lot of liberal Western guilt over the adoption of

African children, partly because of history. Had Banda been a poor

Romanian child, the adoption would have raised less dust.

However the most objectionable is that a white woman adopting black

African children conjures images of a " native " being bought as if it

was during the slave trade – except this time, the " slave trader " is

wearing designer clothes, and has left something behind to placate the

people:.

Madonna's charity is setting up an orphanage for up to 4,000 children,

and the singer has said she wants to raise at least $3 million

(Sh216m) for programmes to support Aids orphans.

Another source of controversy derives from the media and NGOs'

distrust of rich and powerful people. Were Madonna a humble Baptist

minister from Leicester, she would have carted away without even

a single letter in the press.

Many people who consider themselves progressive sit uncomfortably in

this world, because it gives those with education, good jobs, and

influence a lot of power over the poor and weak.

It gives Madonna the influence to fast-track the adoption of Banda,

and it gives NGO careerists and journalists the clout to influence

public opinion and action. By criticising people like Madonna, they

will perpetuate the fiction that they are different. They aren't.

This also leads them to project suffering and poverty as something

noble, hence Ms Staunton's suggestion that the poor women caring for

Aids orphans in African villages are necessarily better mothers than

Madonna.

However, the reason they and everyone else work long hours, and spend

so much money buying a good education for their children, are so that

they can be successful and avoid Banda's fate. They know that it makes

all the difference if you are rich and successful.

There are no easy solutions to the orphan crisis in Africa, but as

happens to so many such children, if Banda hadn't been adopted, he

would probably have been murdered on the streets of Lilongwe by a mob

or a policeman before his 18th birthday.

Or he could have become one of the thousands of African illegal

immigrants who die in the Mediterranean trying to cross to Europe

hoping for a better life.

Little Banda is the goose that flew over the cuckoo's nest.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for

Convergence and New Products.

Write to the author