Paris Out of Africa...For Now

Thu., Oct. 25, 2007 4:06 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

The New Paris Express won't be making a stop in Africa just yet.

The Playing for Good Foundation, which links businesses and celebs with a multitude of charities benefiting children and families in need, announced Thursday that Paris Hilton's upcoming trip to Rwanda has been postponed while the agency restructures.

"Paris has been a loyal and gracious supporting of Playing for Good, but the foundation has to regrettably reschedule this trip," the organization said in a statement. "Playing for Good would like to thank Ms. Hilton for her generosity and her continued support of this initiative and is looking forward to rescheduling the trip with her at a later time."

It was foundation founder Scott Lazerson who originally invited the heiress to make the visit to Rwanda.

Hilton, who's leaving Sunday for Moscow to make the rounds during the Russian capital's Fashion Week, told E! Online last month that she planned to visit the impoverished, civil-war-plagued central African nation in November, after finishing work on her movie, Repo! The Genetic Opera.

"There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help," Hilton said at the time.

The trip would have marked Hilton's first major foray into high-profile, Angelina-style philanthropy, a concept that she said she planned on becoming more familiar with while serving 23 days behind bars for probation violation earlier this year.

"Now that I've been here and I've been seeing life through different eyes—just getting letters from all around the world—I have a lot of compassion for things that are going on around me that are so much more important than things I ever thought about," the 26-year-old Simple Life star told E!'s Ryan Seacrest in a jailhouse phone call.

"I'm so much more grateful for everything that I have, even just to have a pillow at night or food or anything…I don't know," Hilton said. "I just want to start using what I've been given by God to bring light to causes that I believe in."

Namely, at the time, she said that she wanted to build a transitional facility for recently released female inmates to help them as they rework their way into society.

Hilton has certainly been busy since flying the coop, although not all of her extracurricular ventures have been of the nonprofit variety.

Aside from her movie, a rock musical that has been shooting in Toronto, the "Stars Are Blind" singer has gotten the ball rolling on a new album with über-producer Scott Storch, inked a deal with Antebi Footwear Group to launch a signature line of shoes and, in August, debuted her eponymous clothing line at celebrity shop spot Kitson in West Hollywood.

Proceeds from the launch of Hilton's latest fashionable venture were donated to Los Angeles Children's Hospital, where she also spent time meeting with patients following her release from jail on June 26.

While she's in Moscow next week, Hilton is scheduled to shoot a TV ad for designer Kira Plastinina, according to the Russian newspaper Pravda.