It works, Mummy: Mercy watches the water flow as Madonna tests a new pump in the Mchinji district of Malawi.Madonna is known for her bizarre style transformations – but even she might live to regret stealing fashion tips from Elton John.
Pumping water at a well in Africa, superstar Madonna would not have looked out of place on the stage of Seventies rock opera Tommy, thanks to a bizarre combination of baggy tartan trousers and knee-high lace-up boots.
The 51-year-old pop icon was unveiling a new water pump in a Malawian village as part of a charity tour of the continent.
She was joined by adopted children David Banda, four, and Mercy James, also four, both natives of Malawi, as well as 13-year-old daughter Lourdes, who also got in on the Tommy look with knee-high boots of her own.
Mercy James was all smiles as her adopted mother pumped clean water into a bucket to the delight of locals in the Mchinji district of Malwai, where her adopted brother David Banda was born.
But while the villagers might have been glad to have clean running water, the pop queen herself opted for the fizzy stuff, carrying a bottle of what looked like Coca-Cola.
Madonna snubs normal drinking water in favour of special ‘Kaballah water’ as part of her membership of the trendy religious movement.
It has been reported she spends $10,000 a month on the water, which she believes has special healing properties.
It is Madonna’s first visit to Malawi since she controversially adopted a second Malawian child, Mercy James, last year.
Getting a workout: Madonna puts her fitness to the test as she gets the water flowing while Professor Jeffrey Sachs, a development affairs expert and mentor of the Mchinji initiative, looks on
The little girl’s grandmother claimed she had been ‘stolen’ from the family and Madonna was criticised for using a private jet to fly exercise machines, expensive wines and a personal trainer into the impoverished country at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.
Madonna, who has spent millions to help fight poverty in the country, was also accused of using her money and influence to circumvent Malawian law, which stipulates that foreigners must be resident in Malawi for 18 months before adopting a child.
She adopted David Banda from an orphanage in 2006 when he was 18 months old despite opposition from his biological father Yohane Banda.
Lourdes plays with her mother's pendant as they take to the shade
Mr Banda complained the following year that he had only been allowed to see his son once since the adoption.
Madonna has pumped millions into the impoverished southern African country, where four in ten people live on less than a dollar a day and the life expectancy is just 41.
Tomorrow she is due to lay the first brick of her $15million school, Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, which is set to open in 2011
It has been reported she spends $10,000 a month on the water, which she believes has special healing properties.
It is Madonna’s first visit to Malawi since she controversially adopted a second Malawian child, Mercy James, last year.
Getting a workout: Madonna puts her fitness to the test as she gets the water flowing while Professor Jeffrey Sachs, a development affairs expert and mentor of the Mchinji initiative, looks on
The little girl’s grandmother claimed she had been ‘stolen’ from the family and Madonna was criticised for using a private jet to fly exercise machines, expensive wines and a personal trainer into the impoverished country at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.
Madonna, who has spent millions to help fight poverty in the country, was also accused of using her money and influence to circumvent Malawian law, which stipulates that foreigners must be resident in Malawi for 18 months before adopting a child.
She adopted David Banda from an orphanage in 2006 when he was 18 months old despite opposition from his biological father Yohane Banda.
Lourdes plays with her mother's pendant as they take to the shade
Mr Banda complained the following year that he had only been allowed to see his son once since the adoption.
Madonna has pumped millions into the impoverished southern African country, where four in ten people live on less than a dollar a day and the life expectancy is just 41.
Tomorrow she is due to lay the first brick of her $15million school, Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, which is set to open in 2011
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