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One Woman's Thank You to Madonna

Dear Madonna,

Thank you.

Earlier this week, after a month-long sojourn in Malawi, my family arrived home in California with our newly-adopted son, Vasco Fitzmaurice Mark David Possley.

His adoption would not have been possible without you and the bold actions you took in Malawi last year when its High Court denied you the adoption of your precious daughter, Chifundo "Mercy" James.

You didn't take no for an answer.

You didn't buy their argument that allowing your adoption of Mercy would encourage human trafficking. You didn't agree when they said Mercy would be fine at an orphanage and without a loving family from a foreign land.

When you appealed that myopic ruling and then won approval of Mercy's adoption from the Malawi court of appeals, you effectively made case law that kicked open the door for other American families to adopt some of the 1 million children orphaned by HIV, AIDS and other diseases (including a grotesque indifference to the suffering of the most vulnerable among us).

Your actions paved the way for families to be created across thousands of miles, through forests of diplomatic red tape and seemingly unbridgeable cultural chasms.

My husband and I met Vasco in October 2007 while we were traveling in Africa on holiday. A few years earlier, we had made a donation to an organization in Blantyre that works with some of the 60,000 children who live on the streets of Malawi -- the vast majority of them, as you are well aware, AIDS orphans.

We were on the ground in Malawi for about 48 hours and spent most of our first day visiting with a few dozen teenaged boys -- "street kids," in the parlance of Malawi -- at a drop-in center in Limbe.

On our way back to the motel in Blantyre, our guide asked if we would mind making one more stop to visit a street kid that, in his words, was "just kind of special."

We drove on the road to the airport to Blantyre's rural Chileka district, clambered down a muddy embankment and saw a clutch of mud-and-waddle huts. Our guide yelled something and we heard a squeaky boy's voice shout something back -- "I'm coming!" in Chichewa, his native language.

Out came this little fellow Vasco -- tiny, skinny -- maybe 35 pounds soaking wet -- with huge eyes and a smile that would split your heart in two. He was about eight years old but was the size of a five-year-old American child.

Letter From Madonna Regarding Homosexuals sentenced in Malawi

Dear friends,

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga will spend the next 14 years in a Malawi jail, sentenced to hard labor.

They aren't murderers. They didn't steal. In fact, they didn't commit a crime.

They were convicted of homosexuality.

I call upon the progressive men and women of Malawi -- and around the world -- to challenge this decision in the name of human dignity and equal rights for all.

Please add your name to mine in a pledge of support for the freedom to love:

www.raisingmalawi.org/FreedomToLove

I am shocked and saddened by the recent decision made by the Malawian court. As a matter of principle, I believe in equal rights for all people, no matter what their gender, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation.

This week, Malawi took a giant step backward. The world is filled with pain and suffering; therefore, we must support our basic human right to love and be loved.

I will not sit back and be silent while two men are sentenced to 14 years hard labor simply for loving each other. I hope you will add your name to mine, and speak out to your friends and family on this issue:

www.raisingmalawi.org/FreedomToLove

Love,

Madonna

The Queen of Life and Fags has Spoken: Madonna on Malawi Homos Sentenced to 14 years in Prison with Hard Labor

Street Fags: Martin Burgoyne and Madonna

"I am shocked and saddened by the decision made today by the Malawian court, which sentenced two innocent men to prison.

"As a matter of principle, I believe in equal rights for all people, no matter what their gender, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation.

"Today, Malawi took a giant step backward. The world is filled with pain and suffering; therefore, we must support our basic human right to love and be loved.

"I call upon the progressive men and women of Malawi—and around the world—to challenge this decision in the name of human dignity and equal rights for all."

quote from Boy Culture

More from Malawi

Lay it on with a trowel.

Legendary. Madonna laying the first brick of her Malawi school.

Madonna In Malawi 04.05.10

"I'd just like to see Malawi get out of that category of being one of the poorest nations of the world to being one of the greatest success stories of the world. That would be amazing."

Madonna's Malawi Mission

legendary - a real star:

Madonna and son visit his Malawi orphanage

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article here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_xEOBgP0cvl6xvI2Jzjk9LZsAmAD9BJJLFG1

I Am Because We Are - Feature Film - 1:26:44