Russell Gordon writes (SRP):

[…]

In the three years since their divorce, the heroin addict has paid no child support, continually endangered Ilija’s life through neglect during his visitation, and in the last year, repeatedly threatened death to our family. He has left Ilija in the “care” of others while procuring drugs, and driven drunk with him on his lap with no seat belt. We have tried to protect Ilija from possible harm by limiting the times when the ex-husband could see or take him, but the legal system has defied logic and defended the junkie, not the child. When we inquire as to what logic permits this, we are always told the same: “This is Serbia.”

Registered addict Vladimir Mladenovic from Nis has twice come to our home with football hooligans while drunk, banging on the doors and windows, threatening to beat us to death in front of little Ilija. Twice they have hurled abuse and threats at us while trespassing on our own property. We followed the law and remained in our house, and called police. The legal system did nothing.

Once, while driving away Vladimir and Ilija during their court appointed bi-monthly visits, one of the hooligans tried to hit me with his car. The legal system again did nothing.

Rather than have the sanctity of our child, our home and our welfare defended by the State, we have been repeatedly warned by the Serbian courts, police and social workers that regardless of the risk the ex-husband’s behavior poses to Ilija’s health and life (and ours), if we impede his court-appointed visitation rights for any reason it will be Jelena who sees the inside of a Serbian prison.

Additionally, the ex-husband has filed numerous frivolous lawsuits against us, which the Serbian State has duly prosecuted. We are being sued for using “not nice words” to him and the hooligans (including calling them hooligans) when they came trespassing on our property to make death threats. The lawsuits have contained considerable creative license, all heard duly by the courts.

Our concerns though have been met with a considerably different measure. While giving testimony against Vladimir for his threatening behavior, one judge sat Jelena within one meter of him with no security. Ignoring and waving off my concerns imperiously, the judge waved me out of her courtroom. Enraged, I broke a small window while trying to exit the building, and was imprisoned for two days, and physically abused by guards. (My repeated efforts to contact acquaintances in the Serbian Ministries of Justice, Interior and Defense were met with complete silence, and we were advised that although the prison warden admitted that guard brutality was “routine” we didn’t stand a chance in Serbian courts suing the government.)

Yesterday the ex-husband showed up in court to testify against us for our alleged insults to his dignity – visibly wasted on heroin. His half-shut eyes and slurred, mumbled speech testified to our concerns about his ability and competence to care for Ilija when he takes him two weekends per month. The judge refused to hear Jelena’s concerns, and refused to order drug tests. His at-times incoherent ramblings were duly recorded, and our lawyer counseled silence.

At the heart of the matter is a battle not over Ilija’s safety, or a father’s love supposed for his son, but between a family who failed, and one who is succeeding.

When I formed a family with Jelena and Ilija, he was a boy without anyone fulfilling the role of father. I accepted him, love him and raise him as my own and we have great love and family harmony. The rage this obviously caused to Vladmir and his parents drove them to use and abuse the legal system, and so many lawsuits and court-appointed interviews means that we dedicate three days out of each week to courts, lawyers, and social workers – none who has done a thing to protect Ilija, or us.

If this case were unique in Serbia, one could shrug it off as bad luck. But in our inquiries with friends, colleagues, and law firms, it turns out this is all standard operating procedure. The reason we are told with a shrug is always the same: This is Serbia.

Early this week in another part of Serbia, an ex-husband killed his wife right in front of the social workers who ordered visitation rights. Is this the European Serbia of the future?

Such an anarchic and anti-conformist society seems hardly fit for the regimentation, and bureaucracy-in-the-triplicate regulation that EU membership necessitates. Will they buckle up through Schengen checkpoints, only to die on the open road in visa-free bliss? And how many EU citizens will they take with them to the netherworld?

It begs the sardonic question: who pays Ilija’s funeral expenses if he dies in a car crash? And is there a specific procedure for applying for an official statement of regret over our bereavement, or do we just follow SOP and say ‘this is Serbia’?

It appears that the generally many Malawians are happy that the Madonna is able to adopt needy children from Malawi in spite of the fears of what this trend may create.

When she first appeared in Malawi to adopt David Banda in 2006, there were mixed reactions. When the debate over her adoption finally died down, rumors started appearing that the pop star was actually dating Malawi to pick another child: this time a girl Chifundo (Mercy) James.

Blogger Rex Chikoko reported that however the journey seemed a bit tough this time as the High Court Judge Esme Chombo said that according to Malawi's intercountry adoption laws, Madonna could not take the child as she had resided in Malawi for about 18 months. However, an appeal to Supreme Court saw Chifundo get mercy on the basis that residence in modern day world can be anywhere and someone can have more than one residence.

Reactions have been many and many continue debating and discussing what will become of Malawi with such a Supreme Court ruling.

Meanwhile Chifundo has arrived in London.

Madonna's new daughter has flown out of her native Malawi on a private jet headed for London, an airport employee and a person familiar with Madonna's adoption proceedings in this southern African country said Saturday.

The airport employee, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said 3-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James left late Friday headed to London, with a stop in neighboring South Africa. The girl, the second child Madonna has adopted from Malawi, was reportedly accompanied on the flight by a nanny, a child nurse and a third aide.

A jounalist and regular blogger Kondwani Munthali while writing about the Madonna, was angered by an article in The Gurdian by one Jacques Peretti , which mocks Malawi and another in the Mirror which claims Madonna bribed Malawians with US$19 million to get the child. Sick and very sick reports.

Mr. Peretti when he comes back to Malawi we will take him back to our schools of Journalism that he can learn to report “facts” and not his own creations as he has done. He claims there is a mass grave in Malawi which we bury three babies everyday, my foot.

Munthali says that he wrote his post merely to put the record straight about Madonna's latest adoption.

Given the context of the debate, another blogger, Ndagha stated that he could not understand why Madonna was granted the second child.

Some Malawians have equate Madonna to ‘Ma Donor' meaning she is a donor of funds to the Malawian people especially the lucky few children are under her Malawi Raising Project.

It has to be pointed out that there are more reactions that are not documented in Malawi on Madonna's adoption of children.

While reactions are many, what remains in the mind of Malawians is whether Madonna or other celebrities will not get to Malawi to adopt more children based on the precedent set by the Supreme Court of Malawi ruling.