Sunday, 22 April 2007

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Madonna Leaves Malawi with the kids

Rep says she's not adopting a girl called Grace

Madonna wrapped up her six-day trip to Malawi on Sunday, jetting off with her daughter Lourdes and 1-year-old son David, whom she's in the process of adopting.

The pop star spent time in the country working on projects for her charity, Raising Malawi, including the opening of a children's health care center. She also made a visit to Home of Hope, the orphanage where she found David, the Associated Press reports.

But one thing that remained unclear was whether she met with Yohane Banda, the 32-year-old biological father of her adopted son.

A source at the orphanage tells PEOPLE that "[Banda] was told he would spend some time with his son," but the meeting was canceled.

Banda, an onion and tomato farmer, left the border district of Mchinji early Saturday expecting to reunite with David. But it was not to be. "They had reached the town of Namitete when the executive director got a call from Madonna's people telling her that the meeting had been called off," said the source. "They were not given reasons."

Although several British tabloids have reported that the father-and-son reunion took place Tuesday, orphanage sources say the peasant farmer had been waiting for the meeting.

Madonna's rep, Liz Rosenberg, says she did not know whether the reunion took place.

After departing Malawi, Madonna, 48, and her children initially had planned to go to South Africa to meet former South African president Nelson Mandela, but Mandela's handlers said early last week that the veteran human-rights campaigner might be busy.

Meanwhile, amid reports that Madonna was looking to adopt another child – a girl named Grace – the pop star's rep continued to issue denials over the weekend.

"Madonna is not adopting Grace or any other child from Malawi – or anywhere else," Rosenberg told PEOPLE Sunday. "She does not know any child named Grace."