According to reports, Madonna has attended a hearing in Lilongwe to ask for permission to adopt a four year old Malawian girl.
The child, Chifundo James, previously reported as Mercy James (which is what the name translates as), has been living in the orphanage that Madonna's first adopted child, David Banda, was also being brought up in, since the death of her eighteen year old mother. The private hearing saw the singer seek an interim adoption order, and she will return to court on Friday to see if she will be given permission to take the little girl out of the country.
As previously reported, Madonna has met with both criticism and approval over her desire to adopt the Malawian children. A Malawian pressure group, Human Rights Consultative Committee, have expressed their reservations. Chairman Undule Mwakusunguraof says that the singer acts "like a bully" adding that she "has the money and the status to use her profile to manipulate, to fast-track the process". Ordinary people seem more supportive, however. One amongst a crowd of onlookers outside the court told the AP: "We are blessed for what Madonna is doing here. That baby is going to have the advantages of going to school and of becoming someone. Here it is very difficult".
Meanwhile, David Banda has met his natural father for the first time since leaving Malawi in 2006. Yohane Banda said of the meeting: "He asked me in English who I was and what I do. When I told him 'I am your daddy' he looked surprised". David was left at an orphanage after his mother died. His father said: "It's amazing how David has grown; I can't believe he is the same small and sickly baby we left at Home Of Hope".