Jasmine Coumbaya, a Canadian from Quebec City, never heard of Malawi before last week. She heard about the impoverished Sub-Saharan country when she met an exchange student at a University in Montreal.This is a very common phenomenon especially in developed countries. The ignorance is among other things the result of the silent media. The Washington Post, the New York Times and other media giants have written about Madonna and her adoption saga, while not mentioning or concentrating on the problems affecting the Malawian population. At the time that the Queen of Pop is fighting with judges, Malawi is experiencing a political crisis that has even escalated to cases of violence. Mr. Bakili Muluzi, the ex Malawian President has been banned from competing in the upcoming May 19th General Elections. This has caused an uproar among his supporters who pledged an unflinching allegiance to their jailed leader. While UK's The Guardian presents a case study on Madonna adoptions; Malawi is mourning with Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) after 22 supporters died at a FIFA World Cup qualifying game in a stadium of Abidjan in a stampede. Malawi is still struggling with problems like gender inequality, high children mortality and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The only time that Malawi gets a window to expose itself to the world, Madonna takes the stage and all eyes unflinchingly focus on her without looking at the problems of the country. It is therefore not surprising that Madonna's adopted son David Banda is more popular than the country's President Mr. Bingu wa Mutharika or Mr. Kamuzu Banda, the Malawian first dictator.
Jasmine Coumbaya is not to blame for her ignorance on Malawi. The media should accept some of the blame. It is therefore not surprising to know that Coumbaya is already familiar with Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
C. Phiri (Lilongwe for Mmalawi)
MALAWI CURRENT NEWS (Home Page)
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The charity (PR firm) 'Raising Malawi' founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what tiny little fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. But I can tell you this: I called their office in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on travel and super high end accomodations for their celebrity figure heads. Its legal but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity and PR crap. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.
MADONNA IS A FAKE HUMANITARIAN. SHE IS NOT EVEN THE PRIMARY DONOR FOR HER OWN RAISING MALAWI FOUNDATION. THERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN TWO DISCLAIMERS WHICH LIMIT MADONNA'S TOTAL 'MATCH' CONTRIBUTIONS TO A VERY LOW SIX FIGURES. LESS THAN 1/10 OF ONE PERCENT OF HER OWN MULTI-HUNDRED-MILLION DOLLAR FORTUNE HAS BEEN PLEDGED. STILL, SHE HAS THE NERVE TO PARADE AROUND THE WORLD MAKING HERSELF OUT TO BE SOME SORT OF NEW-AGE MOTHER TERESA. SHE IS A FRAUD. JUST ANOTHER FALSE HERO PROMOTING HER OWN IMAGE AND HER OWN BUSINESS AGENDA THROUGH HER RAISING MALAWI FOUNDATION.
POTENTIAL DONORS: NON-PROFITS ARE NOT REQUIRED BY LAW TO BE EFFICIENT OR EFFECTIVE. ULTERIOR MOTIVES ARE VERY COMMON WITH CELEBRITY FOUNDATIONS. I SUGGEST THAT YOU CALL THE OFFICE OF RAISING MALAWI (888-72-DONOR) AND REQUEST THE ITEMIZED PROGRESS/EFFICIENCY REPORTS FOR THE YEARS '06' THROUGH '09'. THEY WILL EITHER MAKE A FALSE PROMISE AND NEVER FOLLOW THROUGH OR FLAT-OUT REFUSE. ITS A COVER-UP. THE RAISING MALAWI FOUNDATION HAS BEEN INEFFICIENT FROM DAY ONE. THEY HAVE BEEN MISREPRESENTING THEIR EFFORTS AND SQUANDERING DONOR FUNDS ON UNNECESSARY CRAP LIKE PRIVATE JET RIDES, SUPER HIGH END LUXURY ACCOMODATIONS, AND PR CAMPAIGNS FOR MADONNA. Don't believe it? Then make the call. I suggest that you secure those itemized progress/efficiency 'dollar in dollar out' stats from '06' to '09' before you donate one more penny. and don't let the phrase "shop now" fool you. Its a trick. Artist proceeds are donated from one piece of jewelry and one piece only (shown on the homepage). The rest of that merchandise is for profit. Even the over-priced 'I am because we are.' DVD. It was not produced for 'awareness' or the benefit of Malawi. Otherwise it would be sold to the masses at cost (A tiny little fraction of the retail price.). It also wouldn't be so laiden with images of Madonna. Don't fall for the PR/marketing tricks. Don't fall for the 'Madonna match' either. Its another trick. There have already been two disclaimers which limit Madonna's total 'match' liability to just six figures. Less than 1/10 of one percent of her own multi-hundred-million dollar fortune. Meanwhile, she has been pleading with her fans worldwide for more donations without even telling them how much has been donated so far after three full years of fundraising.
We live in a shady world of trickery, corruption, and Earth shattering greed and hypocrisy. Even 'Good Will' has become Big Business. A cheap excuse to promote your own commercial 'humanitarian' image and travel the world (mostly poor but beautiful) on donor/tax payer dime. Actually charging your exclusive private jet rides and luxury hotel/resort stays to your own 'foundation'. Big celebrity/big business 'foundations' (PR firms) are notorious for this kind of waste.
Raising Malawi has been in operation for over three years now. They started taking donations from day one in '06' but waited over two years to fill out a simple 'non-profit' register form. To date, they still have not accounted for their total contributions worldwide or produced a single itemized progress/efficiency report for their donors to consider. The 'impact' page on the RaisingMalawi.org website only states the collective works of over 20 seperate 'partner foundations'. Each of which have their own sources of funding. No indication is made how much of that 'progress' was actually funded by 'Raising Malawi'. They also never accounted for the 3.7 million (net gain) they claim to have raised along with Gucci from a single event held in early '08' (The opening of the Gucci flagship store.). This is not how legitimate charities operate. I challenge the Raising Malawi (Raising Madonna) team to get their act together and earn a decent rating from any independent charity watchdog like CharityWatch.org.
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