Pop star Madonna has marked the start of construction at the girls school she is building in Malawi.
The 51-year-old cut a ribbon and planted a tree at the groundbreaking ceremony at the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls.
The star's four children including David, 4, and Mercy, 3 - whom Madonna adopted from the country - were also present at the event.
It is thought construction of the $15m (£9.2m) academy will take two years.
"Growing up in a privileged life, I took education for granted, but coming to Malawi has taught me a lot of things and learnt to appreciate what life gives," Madonna said.
The singer added she wanted to give opportunities to underprivileged young girls.
"I realised how much they deserve to be educated and so for me the best thing I could do was to build a school, a unique school that will create future female leaders, scientists, lawyers and doctors.
"If this school is successful it will be used as a model to replicate it in other countries," she said.
Belief
Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, aims to provide accommodation, food, education and other support to orphans in the country.
The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, is on the outskirts of the country's capital, Lilongwe and will admit 500 girls from the small southern African country's 28 districts.
Madonna adopted four-year-old David in 2006
"Research proves that young girls throughout the developing world are often left without opportunities to receive a comprehensive education and the benefits that education can provide," Madonna said in a statement on her website.
"Our goal is to teach them to challenge themselves, serve their local communities and develop their country."
Anjimile Mtila Oponyo, a local academic who has been hired to head the academy, said:"Madonna believes that given opportunities, these girls will become scientists, lawyers and doctors."
"She believes in them. Having someone believe in you is important to a girl."
During her trip, Madonna is also expected to meet with President Bingu wa Mutharika and visit some of the orphanages her charity supports.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Pop star Madonna opens new Malawi school
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10 comments:
good action for next generation especially for girls!!
nice article soon...
nice info too.....
hmmm i like this news.. keep post more news..
Hm, wish its will become the milestone for the other celebrities.
biarpun disini aq g bisa baasa inggris.... coment q sll hadir disini
I agree with having someone who believe in you is important, :)
Many stars have different way to express their philanthropy
anunya keliatan mbok....
The charity 'Raising Malawi' (PR firm) founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS over three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 gross in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. The vague and very misleading word of Madonna. For example: She states in her latest promotional video that she will match any contributions made to her charity (PR firm) "dollar for dollar". However, there is a disclaimer posted on the website for 'Raising Malawi' that Madonna's total contribution will not exceed $100,000. Thats not per donation. Thats a maximum of $100,000 TOTAL. Less than a single days pay for Madonna. Also much less then she will surely rake in by promoting her own CDs, DVDs, and 'for profit' merchandise through this massive worldwide publicity stunt. So I called the office of 'Raising Malawi' in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). These details are ALWAYS made available by legitimate charities to their potential donors. But not in this case. I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on private jet rides and super high end accomodations for their managers, PR crews, and celebrity figure heads. Its legal even for a nonprofit but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity, self-promotion, exotic travel, and PR crap. Still, they compete for funding with more efficient legitimate charities who do more work with less money. The celebrity figure heads often disregard the primary donors, co-founders, and managers, take personal credit for any collective work done, and seek maximum publicity shortly before or after the release of their own commercial projects. Its a sham. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like any of those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.
Watch out Oprah here comes Madonna :) He He
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