Madonna Promises Electricity to Malawi Village

Madonna continues her trip in Malawi, photographed here with her children, visiting the Mphandu la Orphanage in the Namitete area outside Lilongwe, Malawi on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009.

Speaking in Mphandula, about 30 miles from Malawi’s capital of Lilongwe, where Madonna broke ground earlier this week for her girls academy, the philanthropist and activist promised to bring electricity to the village. “I know you work in darkness. I will bring you electricity.”

Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity already has donated $500,000 for a child care center in the village that feeds and educates 3,000 orphaned children.

Earlier this week, Madonna posted a fundraising appeal on Huff Po, also asking viewers on her YouTube video to support her goal of ending the poverty and hardship endured by Malawi’s 500,000 - one million orphans, most of them losing a parent to AIDS. Madonna is matching contributings dollar for dollar.

Raising Malawi with Madonna - You Can Help

Madonna waves as she leaves the Home of Hope in Mchinji, Malawi Photograph: SIPHIWE SIBEKO/ReutersIn what has become a truly unfortunate photo, Madonna was pictured washing her hands with a sanitiser gel, leaving the village. In the age of swine flu, where governments like Saudi Arabia are worried about a pandemic at next months’ Hajj pilgimage to Mecca, the visual of Madonna waving bacterial gel in her hand was badly received in a blogosphere and British press that loves to hate her.

Amid charges of Madonna being false in her Malawi gestures, I’m personally disappointed in the ‘haters’, who seem to suggest it’s paternalistic of her to be doing good work in Malawi, or if she does, no press should know about the event.

I supposed that I should mention also that some of the children call Madonna their ‘god’, when she visited an orphanage. This fact also landed like a lead balloon

Yet, most every charity turns to celebs and global ambassadors to PR their activities.  I say, let the haters get their own backsides out of their computer chairs and into the trenches. But that’s just my opinion. Smile. Anne