Madonna raises $3.7 million for UNICEF, Malawi, Government Minister hails her
Madonna raises $3.7 million for UNICEF, Malawi, Government Minister hails her
Pop Star Madonna , her husband and her friends on Wednesday last week raised f $3.7 million for both her own Raising Malawi charity and UNICEF for the benefit of poor children worldwide as well as those affected by Africa’s HIV/AIDS crisis.
The amount was raised through a combination of dinner and live auction to raise money for the charity, followed by a cocktail party.
The event took place at the lawns of the United Nations, according to sources who witnessed the event.
Actors Katie Holmes ,Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Long, Mark Antony as well as Gwyneth Paltrow were among the guests who came to support the event.
The gathering was sponsored by Gucci who paid for the entire event. Gucci was also inaugurating his new Gucci store .
Most of the guests present said in an interview they had come to support the good cause saying the money would help prolong the life of many children suffering in the third world.
However, some critics were skeptical of inaugurating Gucci Store at the grounds of the United Nations.
Others are not comfortable between the ties of Rising Malawi and the Kabbalah Centre , a body that is connected to Judaism that is followed by the pop star.
However, her beneficiaries in Malawi last year defended her saying there is no connection between Raising Malawi and Kaballah.
Meanwhile the Minister of Information and Civic Education in Malawi has welcomed the gesture of Madonna saying it is going to alleviate the suffering of children in Malawi and world wide.
She therefore advised other celebrities to emulate the example of Madonna to also raise money for the less privileged in the society.
Madonna started hitting headlines after she adopted David, a child from Malawi.
The adoption was later challenged by a combination of many non governmental organizations in Malawi saying Madonna did not follow the right procedures.
The matter is still in the High Court of Malawi.
Madonna has managed to built a school with many school blocks and a hall for Orphans in Lilongwe, Central Malawi.
Many people in Malawi regard Madonna as a hero because she supports many orphans in the country.
They criticized non governmental organizations who teamed up to challenge the adoption to stop the action saying they have not been able to support orphan the way Madonna did.
However, non governmental organizations said they were not against the adoption but the procedure of adoption.
There were press reports late in 2007 that Madonna would adopt a female child. However this did not materialize.