Madonna lays foundation brick for new school in Malawi

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The Material Girl mucked in and got her hands dirty as she launched the construction of a new girls school in Africa

Madonna laid the foundation brick for a new school in Malawi yesterday, inscribed with the words ‘dare to dream.’

The singer was celebrating the start of construction on her $15 million girls academy, which will be just outside Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.

SEE MADONNA’S STYLE HISTORY HERE

Madonna is hoping that the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls will open in 2011, and is expected to help over 500 orphaned children.

The Material Girl is currently completing a week-long tour of Malawi – which is where she adopted children Mercy James and David Banda – and overseeing the various charity schemes that she has launched in the country since 2006.

Mercy sat alongside her adoptive mum at the brick-laying ceremony, and the pair were also joined by Madonna’s biological daughter Lourdes.

SEE MADONNA’S STYLE HISTORY HERE!