Los Angeles, CA–
“The real father of Madonna’s adopted son David feels bitterly disappointed that she is getting a divorce – and yesterday he declared: ‘I am still a poor farmer with nothing to offer, but maybe he would be better off back with us’…
“‘It feels like yesterday that Madonna promised me a happy life and good education for him.
‘I thought she would take him away from the danger of malaria and other diseases that kill children here, and that she would let me know that he was happy.
‘I have never heard from her since the day I agreed to let her adopt David. She has sent no photographs or news.'”
In 2006 there was a controversy and perhaps unfair criticism of Madonna when Madonna adopted David, a little boy from Malawi. The boy’s mother died during childbirth and the boy was living in an orphanage where his father (pictured) often visited him.
Despite misgivings, the boy’s father met with Madonna and her then-husband Guy Ritchie and gave his blessing to their adoption of his son, hoping that the boy would escape the desperate poverty of his country.
While few in the Western world seem troubled by divorce any more, apparently it does bother the boy’s father back in Malawi. From ‘Madonna’s adopted son would be better off in Malawi’ says his biological father (Daily Mail, 10/20/08):
The real father of Madonna’s adopted son David feels bitterly disappointed that she is getting a divorce – and yesterday he declared: ‘I am still a poor farmer with nothing to offer, but maybe he would be better off back with us.’
Yohane Banda has remarried and now has a happy new family living in his thatched hut in Malawi.
His new wife Flora, her daughter Tiyamike, three, and their seven-month-old baby son Dingiswayo – David’s half-brother – live a simple life but it is filled with love.
Yet Yohane was filled with regret and sadness as he looked at a photograph of David.
The little boy was walking the streets of Athens (pictured), one of his hands held by Madonna, the other by Guy Oseary who jointly manages the singer and basketball player Alex Rodriguez – the man to whom she has been romantically linked.
Guy Ritchie, David’s adoptive father, was nowhere in sight.
Yohane, 34, said: ‘He doesn’t look happy in this picture. He looks bewildered. If there is no love in the family, is there any love for him?
‘This is a new and terrible thing to happen to him. I am too upset to think clearly. He is only three years old and he has been through so much.
‘I have the joy of a new family and I even have a new son. But now when I think of David in danger of living outside a family life I find it unbearable, I find it hard to believe God intended this.
‘This woman Madonna told me herself that David was beautiful and made her happy and she promised to take good care of him.
‘Now I see him in a big bewildering crowd in the street with people pushing and shoving, and many cameras around, and without a mother and father to hold his hand. I’m feeling bad for him.’
The peasant farmer placed David in the Home of Hope orphanage at seven weeks old after his mother died from childbirth complications.
When Madonna and Guy Ritchie adopted David two years ago his father was assured the little boy had a stable family life ahead of him…
Yohane recalled: ‘When Madonna decided she wanted David, I was very undecided.
‘I was face-to-face with Madonna and her husband for about 30 minutes. I knew nothing about them really. They just seemed a loving couple, committed to each other, committed to marriage and committed to my son.
‘They promised to take good care of him and always remember he was from Malawi. That’s why I let them take him. Now I feel let down and disappointed, really shocked.
‘It feels like yesterday that Madonna promised me a happy life and good education for him.
‘I thought she would take him away from the danger of malaria and other diseases that kill children here, and that she would let me know that he was happy.
‘I have never heard from her since the day I agreed to let her adopt David. She has sent no photographs or news. I suppose she just wants him for herself.’
The Bandas live in an isolated village with no running water or electricity, growing vegetables and keeping goats. But they say they feel no envy for Madonna’s £300million fortune.
Yohane and his first wife Marita had two baby sons who died of malaria before David’s birth and his mother’s own tragic death.
Yohane remembered: ‘All I wanted was for David to have a better life.’
He does not intend to intervene in Madonna’s marriage crisis but wants to know more about his son’s future…
Read the full article here.