Nope, it’s not a gramatical error in the title. Caribbean lingo tends to go like so: Mercy James father, Madonna child, Loudes mother. The ‘people’s tongue’ cares not much for the possessives.
Anyway, this story broke about two days ago. The man claiming to be the long lost father of Mercy James, the “orphan” from Malawi whom Madonna is fighting to adopt, is attempting to obtain a permanent injunction against Madonna adopting her. It is reported that he has never met the child. One wonders, since this uproar over Madonna’s adoption bid erupted about a month ago, whether the presumed dad has made any serious effort to see and bond with the child he claims as his.
According to this Daily Mail story, he wrote this letter to lawyers:
In this post on the Madonna adoption issue, and this earlier one, I have let known my ambivalence, tending to sympathy for Madonna, in this whole affair. With this latest anti-Madonna bid by James Kambewa, there is a part of me whispering that blood is thicker than water, Mercy is better off growing up in her natural environment among her kind and with her father, if he is serious. At a certain level, that seems better than acquiring the neurosis-inducing status of “visible minority” even if she is in a household where fame and fortune run free.
But, there is an undercurrent in this latest Kambewa move that does not elicit much sympathy. Is this about James Kambewa really wanting to raise a little girl he does not know; is it a negotiating strategy to extract some money out of Madonna; or is the man a pawn in a proxy-war between Madonna and anti-Madonna NGOs, cultural industry activists and human rights groups?
- James Kambewa
Mercy James’ father reportedly believes the singer is not a fit and proper person to raise his daughter, saying she will be exposed to too much ’scandal’ and lack of ‘good morals’ at Madonna’s hands. He told the Daily Mail:
‘How can a woman of 50 dance almost naked on stage? I wouldn’t want my daughter to grow up like that! In Malawi women respect themselves. Cultured women do not go about half-naked.’
The Daily Mail story says he is enlisting the help the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), a group of organisations which have campaigned against Madonna’s adoption bid. The Daily Mail says “‘The HRCC confirmed it had received his letter and will decide whether to appoint a lawyer for him.”
This story has lost me at this point. I post about it here, only to reinforce an observation about the role of a fair few of the NGOs, Human Rights groups and community organizations operating in Africa, the Caribbean and among population pockets of black people in the developed world. If our progress continues to be led by the agendas and funders of these groups, then we will be doomed. The letter from Mercy’s father seems carefully crafted to show not-so-polished use of the English language. As if someone is trying very hard to convince readers it was written by James Kambewa, unaided. His ‘rights’ to his child I guess will be a core argument when Madonna’s appeal comes up on Monday.
Not much should be expected from the HRCC in terms of coaching young men on their responsibilites as fathers and family men. There is probably an NGO to hand out condoms, one to secure abortions, one to talk about the child’s culture which she must remain in but none to reinforce the culture that James Kambewa talks about, where morals and traditional values appear to be the emphasis of the people.
Unless, we, the people, take up this fight for our very survival, and invest more of our time and effort in our families, households and communities, and less of it embracing the liberalista values transmitted from societies where these same values have sown decay, then…what culture and morals and values is there for Mercy’s father to talk about?
July 22, 2009 at 6:16 pm |
SHE’A A PROSTITUTE, NASTY, CORPSE AND A DIRTY OLD WOMAN
August 18, 2009 at 3:04 pm |
Kambewa, where were you when the granny was raising the Mercy. Wasn’t it your responsibility when the mother of your beautiful daughter passed away? God will punish you for just fathering a child without raising her. Did Mercy know that you are her father? At least by age 3 a child is able to know its father. Did she know you. Osamangopereka mimba nkuthawa.
October 26, 2009 at 2:56 pm |
You’re just sh**. Where were you all these years? If you were a real father you couldn’t allow your daughter to stay in an orphanage.