Madonna’s Into Africa

DOES Africa work on a rota system, each country getting a little time in the limelight before the bell is rung and another takes its place?

We no longer read about Ethiopia, Rwanda or even Zimbabwe. And has anyone seen Nelson Mandela recently?

Their time has passed. And so too has that of Namibia, which briefly shone like a star of wonder, star of light to guide us to the birth of Shiloh Jolie Pitt.

Now it is the turn of Malawi to feature in the British press. And by way of a potted history of the land, the Sun’s man in a pith helmet tells us that the county has a population of 12million, 14.2 per cent of whom are HIV positive. The land is “desperate”.

Things are grim. But they are improving, and not just for little Davie Banda, who is soon to be whisked away from grinding poverty to Madonna’s £5.7million house in Marble Arch, £9million country estate in Wiltshire and £8million mansion in Beverly Hills.

Davie may care to note that all homes are believed to have running water and electricity, unlike Lipunga “a collection of 30 mud huts on a dust-blown Malawian plain where little Davie’s father Yohane still lives”.

Africa is portrayed less a place to save than a place to be rescued from. But it is not only Davie who is feeling better today.

The Mirror has a picture of Madonna teaching the locals to dance. There she is dancing with “delight” among a group of orphans.

“Mama Madge gets into the groove,” says the Sun’s headline. And it too has a picture of Madonna dancing with the poor Africans.

These Africans might not have enough food or medicine, but now they can at least dance. And it is a dance of joy for Davie – the one that got away…

Posted: 12th, October 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink