Father of David Banda praise Madonna: Yohane pleased with Malawi visit for son

The father of Madonna’s adopted son has healed his rift with the superstar,this report published by UK Daily Mail reveals.

Yohane Banda said the pop queen is ‘happy’ again after her bitter custody battle with former husband Guy Ritchie over son Rocco.

In March Yohane blasted the singer over the dispute, claiming his son David Banda would be better off living in poverty than with her.

But the farmer says he and Madonna have settled their differences after she took the 10-year-old to visit his village in Malawi for the for the first time since the adoption.

‘I was interested in my boy – and only my boy,’ he added.

The road to the reunion in the village has been a long one for Yohane, which started with the death of his wife shortly after she gave birth to David 11 years ago.

Unable to cope by himself with a newborn, Yohane – who earned just £50 a year – was advised to take his son to an orphanage, where he could be properly cared for.

It was here at Home of Hope Mission orphanage, some 70 kilometres away from his village, that Madonna spotted him: already mother to Lourdes, now 19, and Rocco with then-husband Richie, she set her heart on taking David home to London with her.

It wasn’t easy. Madonna forgot to apply for a passport for the 13-month-old, and the plane was held on the tarmac. Yohane had to come forward to tell the world’s media he wanted the adoption to go ahead – and blocking it would ruin his son’s life chances.

Madonna would later compare the process to giving birth.

But unlike with Mercy, the little girl she adopted two years later, Madonna has kept good relations with Yohane, who has seen his son sporadically over the years.

Mercy’s grandmother and father claim to have been kept separate from her.

It wasn’t always easy for Yohane. When David was three, the two met – only for him to reveal, with a toddler’s innocence, that he had no idea who Yohane was.

This latest trip was particularly special, however, because it appears to have come from David’s own desire to know his Malawi roots.

‘Madam Lucy, the Director of Home of Hope Mission, told me sometime early this year that David wanted to come to his village,’ Yohane said

‘But it was only on Thursday that she told us he would finally be coming the next day.’

It was a hero’s welcome for David, the baby who left the village on the brink of death, returning healthy and educated.

They were met by Yohane, the chief and village elders amid ululation and jubilant singing by members of the entire village.

The village arranged performances of traditional dances, including performances by children from the village primary school where David would have gone if he had lived in the village.

It was joyous occasion for Yohane – not least because it was a chance to introduce him to his four younger siblings, the smallest of whom, Shukilo, is just two-and-a-half weeks old.

‘I cannot find words to explain how elated I was to spend four hours with my son,’ Yohane said.

‘He is a good boy. Humble and well behaved. I am proud of him.

‘He said it himself that that he regards this to be his home and that he will be coming here often.

‘In fact I have been told it is David himself that demanded to come all the way here to see his village.’

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