AP Photo/Tsvangirayi MukwazhiAfter nearly a week of silence, but photo ops, passport stamps and statements from Malawi officials aplenty, Madonna has finally confirmed her reason for touching down in the African nation. And it's not just to model a $2,800 Chanel tracksuit through as many impoverished villages as she can.
It's to adopt 4-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James.
"Madonna is committed to maintaining an ongoing relationship with David's Malawian roots," rep Liz Rosenberg said in a statement this morning.
The 50-year-old star and her three children, 12-year-old Lourdes, 8-year-old Rocco and 3-year-old David (who was welcomed into the then-Ritchie home back in 2006 but whose adoption was completed only last year), arrived in Malawi on Sunday to help serve as the welcome wagon for their would-be sibling.
On Monday morning, Madonna attended her first court hearing in the adoption process, but after the hourlong, closed-door session, the judge adjourned the case pending a second hearing this Friday (when, it's quite possible, another delay may arise).
While several Malawi welfare officials stepped up late last week and over the weekend confirming—and in some cases, condemning— that the Material Mama would be expanding her single-parent brood, today's statement marks Madonna's camp's first acknowledgment of the endeavor.