Despite donating $3 million to help impoverished and orphaned children in Malawi, Madonna is the latest western celebrity to have their philanthropic motives questioned.
The pop icon has spent most of the last week in the landlocked African nation of 13 million. Reports that she had adopted a child were later proven to be incorrect. Whilst in Malawi with husband Guy Ritchie, Madonna visited orphanages and met with government officials, raising awareness worldwide of the plight of some 900,000 children who have been orphaned by the country's disastrous AIDS pandemic. Malawi government estimates suggest that 14.2% of the country's population are HIV-positive.Madonna worked closely with the Raising Malawi charity, which has earmarked $1.5 million to the village of Gumulira, population 6,000. Part of the funds will be used to improve the local school.
However, concerns have been raised that Madonna-supported care centres feature a curriculum based around Spirituality for Kids, which is linked to the mystical Kabbalah faith, of which Madonna is a famous advocate.
Whilst villagers are reported to have been grateful for the attention granted them, local aid workers are less optimistic that such celebrity visits are beneficial. They and other critics suggest that celebrity visits raise false hope among impoverished communities, and do little in providing long-term welfare solutions for the world's poorest continent.
An unnamed aid worker in the capital Lilongwe told the Reuters news agency, "To me it's a phase they (celebrities) are going through. There's a lack of long-term commitment. Madonna will raise awareness internationally, but locally not much will happen."
