Madonna's adopted son reunited with father in Malawi

March 29, 2009
Madonna's adopted son reunited with father in Malawi

Madonna and her daughter, Lourdes, greet residents today in the village of Magwelo, near Lilongwe
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Mabvuto Banda in Lilongwe, Malawi, and Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg, South Africa
Madonna’s adopted son, David, was reunited with his biological father today amid emotional scenes at a safari lodge hours after the pop star arrived in Malawi reportedly to adopt a second child.
Workers at the luxury Kumbali lodge outside the capital Lilongwe said that David’s father Yohane Banda, who checked in at noon on Saturday, appeared delighted to see his son again.
“He had been waiting here all morning – you could see he was over the moon when Madonna arrived with David,” one employee, who asked not to be named, said. Security at the lodge was tight, with all staff asked to hand over their mobiles phones.
“I have waited for two years, it is a dream come true,” Mr Banda, a peasant farmer, told The Times in an interview when it was announced last week that Madonna was coming to the impoverished southern African country. “I just wish I could see him more often, but I know one day my prayers will be answered and he will come back and live here.”
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He added that he had been worried about his son’s future when he had heard stories about Madonna's divorce from Guy Ritchie, the film director, but that staff at Madonna’s charity Raising Malawi had assured him that all was well.
Under the controversial deal which allowed Madonna, 50, to whisk the 13-month old David out of Malawi in 2006, she has to bring him back regularly to see his natural father. The adoption was declared legal only last year.
The US pop singer arrived in Malawi in a private jet at around noon today and joined a waiting convoy of 4x4 vehicles that sped off to the lodge, where Mr Banda and members of Madonna’s entourage were waiting. As well as David, she was accompanied by her other children, Rocco and Lourdes.
A little while later, she re-emerged with Lourdes. Wearing a white fedora hat, she and her daughter toured the nearby village of Chinkhota. She refused to answer reporters who asked if she was in Malawi to adopt a 4-year-old girl, Mercy James.
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