Madonna is visiting the African state of Malawi where she is building an orphanage and child care centre and is involved in other initiatives geared toward helping children orphaned by AIDS. She recently launched the new project called Raising Malawi, which aims to set up an orphan care center to provide food, education and shelter for up to 4,000 children who have lost parents to AIDS.

Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, traveled Friday to the small village of Mchinji near the Zambian border where she distributed copies of her children's book "The English Roses" and listened to children sing.

AP reports that "Just over 14 percent of the 12 million population are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and an estimated 1 million children have been orphaned.

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