FIONA HUDSON IN BLANTYRE, MALAWI
FIONA HUDSON IN BLANTYRE, MALAWI
November 26, 2006 12:15am
WITH her popstar's knack for boiling life down to catchy phrases, Madonna sums up her decision to adopt a child from Africa. "It was not me who chose Malawi," she says, "it chose me."
Aussies John and Angela Wilmot aren't as succinct in explaining what drew them to move to one of the poorest countries on the planet and adopt five children there.
As we sip tea under African foliage lush from early rain, we're well into our second cup before they even begin to tell how their remote world spectacularly collided with the celebrity of Madonna's this week.
A media storm engulfed the couple after a British magazine reported they were involved in a "tug-of-love" with the famous singer over a baby girl named Jessica.
In fact, the couple have been awarded custody of the young orphan, and spent yesterday helping the baby settle in alongside her six siblings.
The Wilmots are reluctant to tell us their story, but relent in the hope they can achieve some good for Malawi from the spotlight that has fallen on them
There are few bright spots in the small nation. There are one million orphans, AIDS is rife, life expectancy is about 40 and one in five children don't see their fifth birthday.
The statistics highlight just how lucky the newest addition to the Wilmot family is.
Rescued from under a tree, baby Jessica was taken to the Kondanani orphanage in Blantyre, regarded one of the country's best. (The name means 'love one another' in the local language, Chichewa.)
There she was tended to by staff including another big-hearted Aussie -- Cherie Martin.
Originally from Newcastle NSW, Martin, now 37, fell in love with Africa during a trek holiday and stayed on as a tourguide.
She regularly took backpacker tour groups to meet babies at the orphanage, and struck up a friendship with the director Annie Chikhwaza.
When committed Christian Martin found herself unexpectedly pregnant, she returned to Australia to give birth.
But a year after daughter Tandazi was born, she felt a call to return to the orphanage with her daughter -- and has been there since.
The day we visit, Martin has spent the morning trying to organise Christmas presents for the children: basics such as blankets, shoes, Vaseline and clothes.
She is also trying to arrange a sensor for the new "Door of Hope" -- a slot young mums can post unwanted babies through in the dead of night, instead of simply drowning them in pit latrines.
"I decided I'd like to come and serve Africa," Martin says. "If you are in a situation when you are so blessed, such as in Australia, you should reach out and help those in need."
Enter the Wiltons.
The Perth pair are determined to help reverse the sickness and poverty that ravage Malawi.
The duo arrived in 1999. "We were fairly ignorant," recalls John. "We got here and thought what have we got to contribute, apart from good intentions?"
"I believe life has a purpose and is an investment. I hope to go back to Australia one day and share all the things we've learnt."
The couple have set up an organisation called Total Life Care, aimed at reducing poverty and building community. Its work is entering a crucial phase, as the "hungry season" starts to kick in.
The couple have already adopted four children from Kondanani -- Jessica is the fifth.
Himself adopted, John felt it "just made sense" to take orphans into his home.
"I just wanted to bring some Aussie values here. Give people a fair go and make sure everyone has a chance," says John.
The pair adopted their first two children after a major famine struck the region.
John ensures the adoptees are told about their birth parents. "Most importantly of all we let them know they're wanted, and they matter," he says.
The children are home-schooled, and John has even made attempts to teach them a few AFL skills.
"The kids don't get dessert until they say they barrack for the Saints," he says.
His two biological children, born in Australia before the move to Africa, are "protected, not sheltered" from the ravages of Malawi.
One son, a keen first-aider, was recently confronted with a stark lesson in HIV after offering to help patch up a friend who'd fallen off his bike.
The Wiltons' minds are still boggling over the media attention they've gained since this week's reports linking them to the supposed tug-of-war with Madonna over Jessica.
The storm came at a time as a close mate was suffering the effects of a stroke, and as the 6-month-old child of one of their close colleagues died.
But with the little energy they have to spare, the couple wholeheartedly support the popstar's bid to win court approval tomorrow for her controversial adoption of her first Malawian child, David Banda.
(Charities, church groups and aid organisations are contesting Madonna's right to take the child out of the country, and the Malawian courts are expected to make a ruling on Mondday.
The ruling could pave the way for Australians to adopt Malawian children and take them Down Under.
Kondanani has already fielded several enquiries from families wishing to follow the same path as Madonna should current laws preventing adopted children leaving the country be lifted.
"We wish more people would and could do what Madonna has done," Angela says. "She's acting like a human, and responding to a problem. That's what we all should do."