GUMULIRA, Malawi — Madonna has arrived in Malawi for her week-long charity tour of the impoverished southern African country.
On Monday, the pop star visited Gumulira, a Millennium Village of approximately 5,000 people in rural central Malawi. Raising Malawi, an organization co-founded by Madonna, has been a partner in the Millennium Villages project in Gumulira since its inception in 2006. She was joined in Gumulira by Hans Vestberg, President & CEO of Ericsson, and Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, the director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and co-founder of Millennium Promise.
When the Millennium Villages project in Gumulira was launched, the area was beset by a number of complex challenges. Food insecurity was high due to limited access to specialized seed and fertilizers. In addition, limited access to medical services, classrooms and school supplies, and clean water were pervasive.
"In the space of just a few years, Gumulira has made major gains in food security, health services, education, and income-generation," said Millennium Promise CEO John W. McArthur. "We are incredibly grateful to Madonna and Raising Malawi for their partnership in making this progress possible, and their broader leadership in helping to highlight the dramatic and rapid inroads that can be made against extreme poverty."
On Tuesday, Madonna will lay the first brick of her $15 million Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, set to open in 2011.
Madonna first traveled to Malawi during a charity mission in which she filmed a documentary on the poverty and AIDS crisis there. She has since adopted two children from the country, son David Banda, 5, and daughter Mercy James, 3.
The singer also has an 9-year-old son, Rocco, with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, and a 13-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from her relationship with fitness trainer Carlos Leon.
All four of Madonna's children accompanied her on the latest trip to Malawi.
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