Sean Penn Promises Continued Help for Haiti

Few people have done more to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti than actor Sean Penn, who helped create the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which has distributed food and medical supplies as well as helped build schools and hospitals on the impoverished island nation.

But as the country limps toward recovery, Penn said he has no plans of stopping now.

Penn, 50, said he wants to make Haiti his permanent home and be a permanent benefactor of charitable works:

"There's no end point. This is where I'll be when I'm not working, for the rest of my life," Penn told US magazine recently.

Haiti is lucky to have someone like Penn willing to build up the infrastructure of the nation. The government, which hardly exists, needs all the help it can get building roads, health care facilities and housing.

But Penn might end up helping the Haitian cause the most by voicing criticism of groups proclaiming to help Haiti, with the United Nations at the top of the list.

The United Nations has a tough task before it -- trying to bring aid and stability to a country with a multitude of serious problems even before the earthquake hit last January.

But the world organization has rightfully earned more than its share of criticism for its performance in Haiti. The most dramatic failure on its watch was the transmission of cholera by Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers to Haiti.

And Penn doesn't hold his tongue.

When popular former Fugees singer Wyclef Jean announced his interest in the Haitian presidency last year, Penn questioned Jean's commitment to the nation of his birth.

The idea of a white American actor casting doubts about a black Haitian-born singer rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I have trouble with Penn acting as a Haiti expert after a year in the country.

White paternalism is distasteful, but when it is backed up by the commitment Penn has shown to the island, especially in the absence of other black actors doing the same, you have to give Penn a lot of credit and well wishes for continued success.