Pop diva Madonna wants to adopt another Malawian child

US pop star Madonna arrived in impoverished Malawi Sunday, airport officials said, to file documents allowing her to adopt a second Malawian child.

An employee said Madonna had checked into an exclusive lodge, accompanied by her son David Banda, whom she adopted in 2006 from the same Mchinji Home of Hope orphanage where 4-year-old Mercy lives. Madonna took David when he was 13-months-old after his father had placed him in an orphanage following the death of his wife.

The luxury lodge where Madonna normally stays in Malawi has been fully booked and visitors are being turned away. The employee said David's biological father Yohane Banda was at the lodge to see his son.

The local Nation newspaper this month quoted Madonna, 50, as saying Malawian friends had told her David needed a brother or sister and that she would consider adopting another child, but only with the support of the Malawian people.

Madonna toured an impoverished village in Malawi Sunday, the central African nation where officials said she was expected to begin proceedings this week to adopt a young girl called Mercy James.

Madonna, casually dressed with a white fedora, walked through the village of Chinkhota holding the hand of her 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes. Dozens of reporters looked on.

The family of Mercy James say they did not want her to go. Her uncles, who live in a remote rural area and are her closest relatives, said they had no idea who Madonna was.

The singer has an appointment with a judge in Malawi on Monday in the hope that the adoption papers will be signed.

But the uncles said they would agree only if Mercy was returned to them once she had completed her education and had a career.

The uncles have been persuaded over two years since Madonna first fell in love with the girl at the Kondanani children's village that giving Mercy up for adoption would be in her best interests.

But the child's family said they had been given no clear idea of what the future would hold for Mercy, whose mother died at 18, five days after giving birth to her, and whose father cannot be traced.

Mercy's uncles, Peter Baneti and John Ngalande, cannot read or write but will attend the court hearing in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, which is a five-hour trip from their home.

Mr Baneti, a fisherman, said: "We never wanted to let Mercy go. She is part of our extended family and our culture.

"My mother, my brother and I all said no three times to the orphanage, which was pressing us on Madonna's behalf.

"Now we have been persuaded that Mercy can have a better, healthier life somewhere else in the world with this rich white woman."

Some Malawians opposed David's adoption, accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children. Critics say Mercy's adoption would also violate Malawi's laws.

Austin Msowoya, legal researcher with Malawi's Law Commission, played down concerns that a second adoption by Madonna would violate any laws.

He said the best interests of the child needed to be taken into account - whether that was staying in an orphanage in Malawi or getting "an education with Madonna."

"When you look at these two options, then perhaps it becomes in the best interests of the child to allow the adoption if the parents and the guardians consent to it," he told Associated Press Television News on Saturday.

But Save the Children UK said the recently divorced superstar risked sending the wrong message by going through with the second adoption.

"International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve," spokesman Dominic Nutt said. "The very existence of orphanages encourages poor parents to abandon children in the hope that they will have a better life."

Nutt said he was not suggesting that Madonna was doing anything wrong — but he said the whole process of international adoptions was often flawed and sometimes linked to criminal activity.

He said, barring exceptional circumstances, children should be kept in the care of their extended families or within their communities.

Save the Children UK asked the queen of pop to think before adopting oversees. "We urge any celebrity to set an example, to follow internationally agreed procedures to protect the child, and to ensure that the child in question has no other options in their home community."

Madonna's spokeswoman in New York, Liz Rosenberg and her lawyer in Malawi, Alan Chinula could not comment on the charity’s call.

If the adoption goes through, Madonna would become a single mother of four. She also has two biological children - Rocco, her son with former husband Guy Ritchie, and Lourdes, whose father is Carlos Leon. Ritchie's and Madonna's divorce was completed in November.

Meanwhile, Madonna has ditched her 22-year-old model boyfriend Jesus Luz and told fans on social networking website Twitter that she's glad to be single again. Madonna was linked to Alex Rodriguez last year, before she and hubby Guy Ritchie announced their divorce. Since their split, she's flaunted a relationship with Brazilian model Jesus Luz, 22.