MADONNA - MADONNA PLANTS TREE TO LAUNCH MALAWI SCHOOL PROJECT

MADONNA PLANTS TREE TO LAUNCH MALAWI SCHOOL PROJECT

MADONNA marked the launch of her girls' school in Malawi by planting a sapling and vowing to provide impoverished locals with the same education opportunities she had growing up.
The Material Girl jetted into Malawi - the homeland of her two adopted children David Banda and Mercy James - at the weekend (24-25Oct) to oversee the launch of the school, which is being funded through her Raising Malawi charity.
The facility will provide education for 200 local girls who are too poor to afford schooling, and will cost $13.5 million (£9 million) to build.
The superstar greeted local officials and construction workers as she laid the first brick.
And after planting a young tree to represent the school's beginning, the singer explained her reasons for wanting to finance the project.
She said, "Growing up in a privileged life, I took education for granted, but coming to Malawi has taught me a lot of things and I have learned to appreciate what life gives."
Madonna is also set to meet Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika during her stay in the African nation, and is rumoured to be arranging a meeting with the biological father of three-year-old Mercy.