THE father of the boy adopted by Madonna in Malawi has said he never meant to give his son up for good when he sent him to an orphanage after the death of his mother. Peasant farmer Yohane Banda, who can barely read or write, admitted he did not fully understand what was happening when he went to court in his best clothes to see for the first and only time the woman who was offering his 13-month-old son, David, a new life. Mr Yohane’s wife, Marita, 28, died a week after David was born. "(Madonna) was smiling a lot. She told me: ‘Your son is very beautiful…I promise to take very good care of him."’ "I looked into her eyes and said: ‘I want you to look after him well as he is the only one I possess. ‘I want you to keep this boy, raise him, educate him – but you have to know he is my son and he is a Malawian."’ The 30-minute court hearing was conducted in English, with Mr Banda using a translator. He said he had been bewildered by the speed at which David had been put up for adoption. "It has all been crazy. Everything has happened so fast. I can’t believe what’s happening." But he added: "In court, I did understand I was agreeing to give the baby up for adoption." Mr Banda said David had lived in the orphanage since his mother died, but it was always intended he would one day return home. "I took him to the orphanage because he was sick and we could not care for him. "My other two sons had passed away from malaria while they were still young, and when David became very sick I didn’t know how to cope. "My in-laws did not want him and my extended family is too poor to take him in." But it appears David was offered for adoption without his father’s knowledge when his picture was sent, along with those of 12 other "suitable" boy babies, to Madonna by email. Mr Banda said the first he knew about the adoption was on September 30, when two officials from Malawi’s Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare came to his village. "They told me a mzungu (white foreigner) had seen David’s picture and liked him very much. They said she wanted to take him to America. "They said she would give him a better life. At first I wasn’t sure. I asked if it meant I would never see him again. "They said I would be sent pictures, and when David was older he would be able to visit the village. "My family and I agreed this was a very good opportunity for David to get an education and grow up healthy." Mr Banda had never heard of Madonna or her raunchy songs. He was told she was "a very nice Christian lady".
The Daily Telegraph
I love that he was told she is a very nice Christian lady, guess he does not know about her beliefs in Kabballah. It will be interesting to see if Madonna will be able to adopt David because so many groups are protesting the adoption.
