Madonna Lays First Brick for Malawi Girls Academy
April 7 2010, Published 6:14 a.m. ET
Madonna — with daughters Mercy James and Lourdes Leon in tow — laid the first brick of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls on Tuesday in Malawi, the landlocked country in southeast Africa where Madonna has been reaching out to philanthropically and is the native land of her two adoted children, Mercy and David Banda. Laying the brick was a "dream" for the pop megastar.
"It has always been my dream to train women leaders who can help develop the country," told the AFP while laying the stone with an inscription Raising Malawi Academy for Girls and the motto, "Dare to Dream."
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"I grew up as a poor girl with my mother, I had no chance for good education," she told education officials and curious villagers at the colorful ceremony.
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"It is my aim to see Malawian girls get the right education," she said.