News Digest

Ray of Light: Madonna visits Malawi hospital she supports to see building work

Pop superstar Madonna has paid a visit to the Malawi hospital she has supported for more than a decade. Accompanied by her two children adopted from Malawi, David and Mercy, and her son Rocco, they saw construction work of a children’s wing at a hospital that her charity is funding in this southern African country’s largest city, Blantyre. The pop star has been in Malawi for a week and is to meet President Peter Mutharika and health minister Peter Kumpalume. Madonna went to visit Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital to view the pediatric unit where construction started in May 2015 and which is expected to open in early 2017.

We don’t have a name, but we have a building and we have dreams and they are going to be manifested very soon.

Madonna

“This new facility is the first pediatric surgery and intensive care unit in any Malawi hospital. It will have an enormous impact on saving the lives of children,” said Madonna. “It’s going to be my responsibility to make sure that this place has the equipment and is fully operational on a regular basis,” she said. “So I have a big job ahead of me. Wish me luck.” Asked if she has any more projects for Malawi, she said: “I would like to do one thing really well than many things half-assed, as they say in America.”