A commenter here chastised me for questioning Madonna’s motives and methods in her Malawi adoption pursuit, likening it to little David Banda, the 1-year-old Malawian boy “winning the lottery”.

The comment pointed out the charity Madonna will bestow upon the impoverished area, with millions of dollars and a new orphanage.

Perhaps it doesn’t sound so bad that the orphanage will be run by Raising Malawi, a charity set up by The Kabbalah Center, or that the children who the orphanage will serve will be taught a curriculum based on Spirituality For Kids, developed by the Kabbalah Center. But how many people actually know anything about the Kaballah Center?

A BBC undercover investigation of the London branch of the Kabbalah Center found them selling bottles of magical healing water, infused with enough energy from the mediations of members to cure cancer. The water is actually bottled in Canada by a company that was investigated in 2002 as to how its water is tested. The Center answered questions about the selling of water, face creams and other products by stating a need to “fundraise” to support their charitable works.

The Kabbalah Center claims to have 40 centers worldwide but Israeli authorities cite accounting inadequacies in their refusal to give the charity a certificate of proper management and the Charity Commissioners in Britain state the charity’s accounts demonstrate “significant shortcomings in transparency”.

And while a nanny was able to whisk little David Banda through Heathrow airport despite Madonna’s having failed to follow both British and Malawian law regarding adoptions, a British nurse who is a native of Malawi faces months of investigation and a huge amount of expense that she cannot afford as she struggles to keep a promise to her dying sister - to adopt and bring to her home in Britain, her sister’s only child, a four-year-old girl who lives in poverty, orphaned by HIV-related illness.

Charity would be allowing little Erykka Mambala to leave her life of loneliness and poverty and go to live with a loving family in Britain. Charity would be aiding the impoverished nation of Malawi by funding an orphanage that doesn’t come with the requirement that the children be taught the cult religion of your choice. Charity would be giving Yohande Banda the means to raise his son, instead of taking him away in what probably was meant to be a great public relations story for Madonna.

BBC Undercover Report on the Kabbalah Centre

Nightmare of British Nurse who wants to adopt her Malawi niece…but her name’s not Madonna