Madonna flies to Malawi with David Banda to collect his new sister
Madonna flies to Malawi with David Banda to collect his new sister
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:10 PM on 27th March 2009
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Madonna is finally due to adopt the little girl she has wanted for nearly two years when she flies into Malawi this weekend.
Four-year-old Mercy James was taken to a luxury lodge outside Lilongwe earlier this week, in preparation for being united with the singer, according to sources.
Madonna, 50, is expected to stay in the south-east African country for a week before flying out with Mercy - bar any last-minute hitches.
Flying in: Madonna, pictured in Malawi with her adopted son David in 2007, is to return to the African country in the coming days
The girl is being cared for by a nanny at Kumbali Lodge - where Madonna has stayed on her previous visits to the country. She had been living at an orphanage near Blantyre, in the south of Malawi.
Mercy, now four, has been moved from her orphanage
Madonna had hoped to keep the fact that the child is already at the lodge a secret until leaving the country.
'Mercy has been handed over to Madonna's people, who are already at the lodge, and is being cared for by a nanny,' says the source.
'They are waiting for Madonna to arrive so mother and daughter can be united and then Madonna is expected to take Mercy with her when she leaves.'
Madonna is expected to bring three-year-old David Banda - whom she adopted in Malawi in 2006 - with her to meet his new sister. The Lodge has been booked out from March 26 to April 4.
On Monday, the singer is expected to attend a court hearing in Lilongwe to formalise the adoption after having reportedly filed adoption papers.
If the judge refuses to rubber stamp the adoption, however, it will be a severe embarrassment to Madonna, now that Mercy is in the care of her staff.
The adoption of Mercy is likely to be every bit as controversial as that of David Banda in 2006.
After Madonna's divorce from Guy Ritchie last November, Malawian adoption official, Penston Kilembe, reportedly said: 'One fundamental condition in scrutinising adoptions is the connectedness of a family.
'We can't approve a child to go into a broken family because the divorce could be the result of the party trying to adopt. Madonna should forget this one.'
From the start, Mercy's surviving family have been bitterly opposed to the idea of the little girl being taken by Madonna.
Mother figure: Madonna with Lourdes, David and Rocco
Family planning: Madonna with her 22-year-old boyfriend Jesus Luz
Her uncle, John Ngalande, reportedly said in August last year: 'We won't surrender her. They told us how another Malawi kid has had his life transformed by her. I don't want that attention. We want an ordinary life.'
Mercy was placed in an orphanage after her 18-year-old mother died five days after her birth. It was reported that her father was a schoolboy and it is not clear whether he is alive.
Madonna's determination to adopt Mercy was said to be a major cause of conflict between her and Ritchie, who was opposed to the idea.
Last year he was said to have relented but soon afterwards the couple separated.
Madonna has set up a charity, Raising Malawi, providing support and education for orphans and vulnerable children.
Controversy over her adoption of David Banda in 2006 centred on claims by civil rights groups that she had used her celebrity status to circumvent Malawi's adoption laws.
The laws are now being amended to make it easier for foreigners to adopt in Malawi.