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What is it with Celebrities adopting children from Africa?

Now Madonna has jumped on the bandwagon. Are we supposed to celebrate her compassion by taking one child out of his environment and bringing him into her world, which is frankly so far removed from ours that she believed that Swept Away was a great script.

I’m not denying that she is doing it out of compassion for the child. Having visited a school in the Dominican Republic and meeting some of the children there, you get a real sense of how lucky you are. However, if Madonna really cared, she would take the money she would spend bringing up the child and donate it to the orphanage. She could use the money to improve the living conditions there, or even set up a school, or training college herself to help these children get a better life.

If she were a real philanthropist, she could cement her legacy in history by helping the wider community, as opposed to selfishly taking a single child out of a world where wealth is measured in grain, and into one where wealth is measured by how many magazines you can sell.

And what of the child?

Granted, he will get a life that many of us dream of – never having to struggle, driving lessons in a Ferrari, one-on-one tuition with the best music teachers money can buy… But what happens when he grows old enough to understand where he came from?

Will he look down on his former countrymen, thankful that he didn’t have to grow up in that hardship? Will he be proud of his heritage, or feel a traitor to his roots? Will he ever go back to the country of his birth?

Only time will tell, and his upbringing will have a lot to do with his attitudes.

I really hope for everyones sake that Madonna is adopting for the right reasons, but why Africa? I am sure that there are just as many Orphans in America or the UK (where she lives) that would benefit just as well from her charity.

Geldof looked to help Africa for the greater good of the country, he did not look to help individuals, and that is what makes him a greater person.