Sean Penn Remains In Haiti: 'As Long as This Camp Is Here, We'll Stay Here'

By PopEater Staff Posted Mar 15th 2010 02:06PM

Sean Penn has had his fair share of time in the media spotlight for everything from his impressive acting resume to his on-again, off-again relationships with some of Hollywood's hottest leading ladies, but it's his charitable work in Haiti that's making headlines these days.

The actor has announced that he will remain in the devastated country until mid-April, assisting in relief efforts at one of the country's largest refugee camps.

The actor, who recently co-founded the Jenkins-Penn Haiti Relief Organization, has been in Haiti since about a week after a January 12 earthquake devastated the country. Penn's organization has provided not only food and medical supplies to some of the estimated 1.3 million Haitians left homeless by the quake, but the group has recently opened a clinic to help victims of sexual assault, a crime that has become increasingly prevalent since the disaster.

Penn told the Associated Press, "These people are going to have nowhere to go, by and large... The efforts that we've seen ... have been extraordinary – down the line. But this is an impossible kind of situation," adding, "As long as this camp is here, we'll stay here. When this camp's not here anymore, then we'll have to be where we are accessible to people."

Penn has long been active in social and political causes, speaking out against the war in Iraq and lending his support to the LGBT community and gay marriage initiatives. Despite the major commitment he's made to the Haitian relief effort, Penn says that his decision came easily. "I saw ten minutes of news and we started organizing."

Tags: haiti, sean penn

Comments

(24)

Monday 15 March

By Zane

Vote down Vote up Report this

Am I wrong? I thought Sean Penn was hiding out from the IRS for back taxes? Haiti is a good place to hide ...unless the ground starts to move.

By mpotter

The best thing about Sean Penn staying in Haiti is that we don't have to worry about him contaminating the world with anymore of his crappy movies. Big Loser!!!!!

By roch20

If anything; this can only makes him looks a lot sexier, yummy! Sean, you're a hero!

Sunday 23 May

By John Henry Miller

I would like to be contacted by you personnally

Page 2 of 2