Madonna will appear in an interview to air on CNN this morning to talk about her philanthropy efforts in Malawi. In a short clip available on CNN’s website (above) she seems very earnest in wanting to help desperately poor orphans in the nation where she’s completed two controversial and arguably illegal adoptions. Like her earlier video asking for donations to Raising Malawi, I had a hard time focusing on what she was saying because I kept staring at the way her mouth seemed to move independently from the rest of her face – like a puppet with a detached jaw.

Madonna explained that she got involved in Malawi after receiving a call from a Malawian woman asking for help in her impoverished country. The woman was “so impassioned about what was going on at the time,” and told her “that there were over a million children [in Malawi] who were orphaned by AIDs.” When Madonna said she was sorry and didn’t know where Malawi was, the woman hung up. She said “she was crying on the phone… the whole package got to me.” She then “went on an investigatory trip and found out exactly where Malawi was.”

Construction is now underway on the “Raising Malawi Academy for Girls” in the capital of Lilongwe. Madonna has pledged to donate $250,000 to Raising Malawi, having upped her initial pledge of $100,000 in matching donations to the charity. Questions remain about the legitimacy of the charity and $3.7 million that may be missing from its coffers.

In 2008, Madonna’s only charitable donation was nearly $500,000 to the Kabbalah center, with no money going toward Raising Malawi. It’s possible that money went to Raising Malawi anyway – last year it was not registered as a separate charity and all donations were going through the Kabbalah center. The Raising Malawi website says it’s registered as a non-profit organization so they’ve probably taken care of that. It still has clear ties to Kabbalah. Some blog posts are written by controversial co-leader Michael Berg and the website notes that it teaches Success for Kids, a Kabbalah program, throughout charitable projects in Malawi.

Do you think CNN’s Alina Cho will ask Madonna about the controversies involving her charity?

Also as part of CNN’s “Big Stars, Big Giving,” Elton John talks about his AIDs foundation and how his friendship with Ryan White changed his life. I really warmed up to the guy after watching this video. In contrast to Madonna, he didn’t protest when he was told that a potential adoption would violate the law in the orphan’s country, and just decided to financially support the little HIV-positive boy that he and his partner were hoping to care for.