Madonna don’t preach: Malawi school folds

Madonna's flagship philanthropic project in Malawi has collapsed following revelations that senior staff in her Raising Malawi charity have blown $3.8m on luxuries such as cars and golf course memberships.
 
Back in October 2009, the megastar cut a ribbon and planted a tree during a highly publicised groundbreaking ceremony for the school she was building. At the time she insisted: "Growing up in a privileged life, I took education for granted, but coming to Malawi has taught me a lot of things".
 
But apparently it has not taught her the fundamentals of development work, or how to manage what should have been a simple project.
 
The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls was to be on the outskirts of the country's capital, Lilongwe. Launched at a time when Madonna was seeking to adopt her second Malawian child, it would have provided 500 Malawian girls with an elite education.
 
Two hundred villagers were moved from their ancestral land in Chinkhota village to make way for the school. At the ceremony, Madge promised that it would be ready in two years.
 
A year and a half later, and even the deeds to the land the school was to be built on had not been bought.
 
Instead, according to the New York Times, $3.8m had been spent on architects, office space, golf course membership, free housing and a driver for the director, and cars for two employees who had not even been hired yet.
 
There were indications that the project was falling apart as far back as October 2010, when the charity's executive director, Philippe van den Bossche, left amid criticism of his extravagant spending and poor curriculum planning.
 
When rumours of the abandoned project reached Malawi officials earlier this year, they accused Madonna of failing to raise the necessary money and using management issues as an excuse.
 
Madonna has adopted two children from Malawi, which is the fourth poorest country in the world.
 
"There’s a real education crisis in Malawi," she said in a statement following the news. She now has plans to build a series of secondary schools across the country, in order to "reach thousands, not hundreds of girls". ·