Sean Penn’s charity: J/P Haitian Relief Organization

Sean Penn, after his divorce, and other family issues, looking for something important to do, and went to Haiti to work. Two years later...

He took over a camp in Haiti, situated on a golf course, and has helped organize housing for 40,000 people who have since gone on to find real housing. There are 20,000 left to house.

"J/P Haitian Relief Organization is dedicated to saving lives and bringing sustainable programs to the Haitian people quickly and effectively. Following the devastating earthquake of 2010 J/P HRO began working immediately on the ground to make an impact in Haiti."

@jphro

SOON AFTER the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Sean Penn’s charity, J/P Haitian Relief Organization went to work delivering aid to the country, first on the streets of Port-au-Prince, and subsequently in the area around the town of Delmas 32. Now, two years after the earthquake, the organization remains on the ground, working not just to deliver aid but help the country recover, with a hands-on philosophy that, it says, emphasizes Haitians first. Indeed, 95 percent of the organization’s employees in Haiti are Haitian nationals. J/P’s activities in the Delmas 32 camp include everything from small business training to a rubble removal programme and, most recently, a project to retrofit homes. To learn more about J/P’s recent work in Haiti and what’s on the horizon, Caribbean Journal talked to Benjamin Krause, Haiti Country Director for J/P about the group’s latest projects, its base around the community of Delmas 32, and the future for J/P in Haiti.