AMOS GUMULIRA/AFP/Getty ImagesMadonna, joined by five of her six children, officially opened the Mercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care in the African nation of Malawi on Tuesday.
“There are so many things I never imagined I [would] do. I never imagined one day I [would] build this kind of a hospital,” Madonna said on Tuesday, according to People.
She added, “Never give up on your dreams.”
Madonna was joined at the opening by her 16-year-old son Rocco and her adopted Malawian children: 11-year-old David Banda, 11-year-old Mercy James — whom the center is named after — and four-and-a-half-year-old twins Stella and Esther. Her 20-year-old daughter Lourdes did not attend.
People reports that during the ceremony, David Banda performed with dancers from the Jacaranda School for Orphans and Mercy James gave a speech in which she called her mom “the bomb.”
Construction began on the center in 2015. Built to serve both as a medical center and a training site for local doctors, it features three operating rooms for children’s surgery, a day clinic, a hospital ward and a playroom. It was funded by Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity, which she established in 2006, the year she adopted David.
Its a Family Affair!! ♥️????????????♥️????????♥️????????????????????At the Opening of The Mercy James Center!! ???????? @RaisingMalawi pic.twitter.com/qxHabGwJ9e
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 11, 2017
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