PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: The orphaned Malawi twins Madonna 'wants to make her own' and how their adopted mother would be horrified 'if she knew a foreigner was taking them away'
- Mother of four-year-old twins, Esther and Stella, died in childbirth
- Pair cared for by Estelina Kalumpha but she died in August last year from fever
- Now her sister, Gladys, says she'd be horrified to know girls may be taken to US
- She said: 'I fear I may never see them again' after Madonna wants to adopt them
The woman who acted as the mother of the orphaned twin girls from Malawi who Madonna wants to adopt would be horrified to know they may be taken to the US, says her sister.
Four-year-old twins Esther and Stella’s mother died in childbirth and at one day old they were taken to an orphanage.
![Estelina Kalumpha plays with the orphaned twins who regarded her as their birth mother](http://web.archive.org./web/20171220104643/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/01/29/00/3C9BD10300000578-4168000-image-m-79_1485650590060.jpg)
Estelina Kalumpha plays with the orphaned twins who regarded her as their birth mother
They were cared for by Estelina Kalumpha, who they grew up believing to be their birth mother. But in a devastating second tragedy, she died in August last year from fever.
Last night, her sister Gladys told The Mail on Sunday: ‘She cared for them from the minute they arrived at the orphanage.
‘If she knew a foreigner was taking them away, she would be very unhappy.
‘They are lovely girls, so alike even I can’t always tell them apart. I don’t know what is going to happen to them, or where they will go. I fear I may never see them again.’
![Madonna with her Malawian adopted children, David (front left) and Mercy (middle left), during a trip to the country in 2013](http://web.archive.org./web/20171220104643/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/01/29/00/3C9BCC0D00000578-4168000-Madonna_with_her_Malawian_adopted_children_David_front_left_and_-a-83_1485650710973.jpg)
Madonna with her Malawian adopted children, David (front left) and Mercy (middle left), during a trip to the country in 2013
The girls’ father had taken them to the Home Of Hope orphanage after their mother’s death when he found himself unable to care for them at the village where he lived in poverty.
Madonna, 58, has been a visitor to the orphanage for several years. She adopted David James in Malawi in 2006 and then controversially adopted Mercy, from the Home Of Hope orphanage, six years ago, after a lengthy legal fight.
The girl’s grandfather Saxon Maunde later complained he had been ‘tricked’ into giving consent and had been led to believe Mercy would be educated abroad and then returned to her family.
A court is now deciding if Madonna, 58, can adopt Esther and Stella and take them to the US.
The pop star last week denied she was seeking to adopt further children from Malawi.
However, Malawi’s Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare confirmed she had submitted paperwork and her application was being considered.
![The Vogue singer was pictured at Lilogwe High Court after a hearing last Wednesday](http://web.archive.org./web/20171220104643/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/01/29/00/3C91B4DE00000578-4168000-image-a-81_1485650651750.jpg)
The Vogue singer was pictured at Lilogwe High Court after a hearing last Wednesday
She was photographed leaving the High Court in Lilongwe by a rear entrance, surrounded by bodyguards.
A court official said Madonna would not be able to take the children from Malawi until an adoption decision had been made.
A judge will study the vetting procedure and decide in three weeks whether their adoption can go through.
The girls are staying at an unknown location until the court’s decision.
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