Hard as it is to believe, almost no one in Malawi knows that Madonna has recently divorced, or been linked romantically to a Brazilian model less than half her age. They've never seen her documentary film "I Am Because We Are" about poverty in Malawi, nor seen the concerts where the country's grim AIDS statistics flash on screens while she performs.

Here, she's simply known as the only wealthy person in the world who has cared about the plight of the hundreds of thousands of AIDS orphans struggling to survive in one of the world's poorest countries.

Malawian child welfare groups and human rights activists tried and failed to convince the courts to block her adoption of a toddler named Mercy. They argued that efforts should first be made to place orphans with local families.

Yes, Malawians feel that she won her court case because of her status. She's a famous person, she's got the money, and she doesn't let anyone get in her way. But she's spending a lot of money here with her charity Raising Malawi, and they think it's OK that she used her influence to bring another child into her home.

They would argue: How many of the rich politicians in Malawi, the activists in Malawi, the rich in Malawi -- how many of them adopt children? They simply don't. They don't see rich Malawians adopting or supporting orphans, and we have 560,000 of them.

So Malawians have tended to love Madonna and want her to have as many children as possible, because she's the only one so far who has shown interest in adopting these children. Only about 30 international adoptions a year are approved here.

Generally there is that feeling that because of this adoption, Malawi is better known. She's put Malawi on the map. Otherwise, Malawi only makes news for famine or AIDS.

It's been a tricky story to cover. Adoption proceedings are conducted in secret, and courts only release their written verdicts one or two weeks after they are handed down, so journalists have to work to find good sources to give them the verdicts. In this case, the Supreme Court of Appeal made an exception and held its hearings in open court, although no pictures were allowed.

Covering Madonna poses its own challenges. When she's here, she has her own no-nonsense bodyguards as well as Malawian security agents who don't want journalists anywhere nearby.

Her itinerary is secret when she comes to Malawi, so you have to be close to her lodge -- normally she books the entire place. Then you have to chase her all the way to where she's going, but she can change routes to get away from the journalists.

Sometimes she sends a car in a dummy convoy, so you follow that convoy and you discover she's not actually there. She's at home.

Her case may have set a precedent for future adoptions. The Supreme Court granted her a final adoption, unlike when she was granted provisional custody of her first adopted child David Banda, with the actual adoption completed only months later.
Malawi will now likely rewrite its vague adoption laws to make them clearer, which could give more orphans here the chance of growing up in a family.

In this blog, reporters and editors for global news wire AFP blog about the news they report and the challenges they face covering events from Baghdad to Beijing, the White House to Darfur. Felix Mponda is AFP correspondent in Blantyre.