A giant mural of Madonna on the facade of a Hollywood hotel
© AFP/File Gabriel Bouys

BLANTYRE (AFP) - As debate continues to rage over the rights and wrongs of Madonna's adoption bid, David's father acknowledged that his son will be spared a life of grinding poverty if an 18-month interim custody order becomes permanent.

"My son David has escaped poverty from Malawi by being adopted by Madonna," Yohane Banda told AFP.

"It is good for him because there is untold poverty in our home village of Lipunga."

The Banda family hails from a dusty rural outpost in Mchinji district near the Zambian border, some 205 kilometres (about 125 miles) from the administrative capital Lilongwe.

The village has no electricity or running water. Its houses are made from mud and roofed with grass. Villagers eke out a subsistence life from farming.

When David's mother died a month after she gave birth, Yohane felt he had no option but to send him to Home of Hope, a local church-run orphanage.

It was in the same orphanage earlier this month that Madonna first set eyes on David as she paid a visit to its young residents.

Madonna's son Rocco Ritchie arrives at his mother's home in London
© AFP Andrew Stuart

The multi-millionaire Queen of Pop flew back last week to London from Lilongwe on a private jet -- one of the many trappings of her fame and fortune.

In contrast, 60 percent of Malawi's 12 million citizens live below the poverty line of one dollar a day and the country's per capita gross domestic product is around 210 dollars per year.

One in four children dies before its fifth birthday, while a Malawian woman dies every hour during childbirth or complications, health experts say.

The World Bank says Malawi has "terrible indicators" of poverty while officials acknowledge the number of orphans has reached "crisis point" as a result of AIDS.

While a coalition of rights groups is trying to enforce a review of the fast-track adoption process, Malawian newspapers say David should not be denied his fairytale journey from rags to riches.

"The adoption is an opportunity millions of Malawian children are denied because of poverty," The Nation daily said in an editorial Wednesday.

"It is ridiculous that instead of commending Madonna, right groups are too happy to block Madonna's charitable gesture."

Some citizens however say that Madonna should stick to financing aid projects rather than remove a child from his native land.

Members of the press outside Madonna's London home
© AFP John D McHugh

"David should stay home and be brought up under Malawian culture," said street vendor Samuel Phiri.

The Human Rights Consultative Committee, an umbrella organisation of 67 local rights groups, has gone to court to challenge the interim order granted to Madonna by a court in Lilongwe allowing her to take David anywhere.

Justin Dzodzi, chairman of an alliance of rights groups which is challenging the interim adoption order, said David should be allowed to choose his own fate once he becomes an adult.

"We would like David to be given an option when he turns 21 either to come back home to be re-united with his parents or continue to stay with Madonna," he told AFP.

Dzodzi also said Madonna, a one-time Playboy model known for her steamy dance routines, was a questionable role model for a child.

While the present government stands accused of bending over backwards to accommodate Madonna, it is unlikely that the country's founding father would have been quite so helpful to a woman famed for wearing conical bras.

Hastings Banda, who ruled Malawi for 30 years after independence in 1964, banned mini-skirts, long hair for men and bell-bottoms.

©AFP