Sean Penn Lends a Hand in Haiti

Actor passes out water filters, talks to troops and tours the earthquake-ravaged nation

Sean Penn has never been one to sit tight and let others do the dirty work.

The two-time Oscar winner toured earthquake-ravaged Haiti Friday after arriving in town with 11 doctors and a U.S. businesswoman with whom he's established a private foundation to contribute to the cause.

"It is a devastated area," Penn told reporters in between visiting a medical clinic, touring a food distribution site and passing out 1,000 water filters he brought from the States.

"I've seen the same thing your cameras have seen. People are suffering and a lot of people are doing their best—the U.S. military and human aid groups—to help them."

Acknowledging what has been one of the biggest obstacles to the relief effort so far, which is physically getting supplies to the people despite the Caribbean nation's devastated infrastructure, Penn added: "The idea of us being here is to make sure the aid gets to them."

The politically-minded star, who's caught fire in the past for meeting with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, interviewing Fidel Castro in Cuba, visiting Iran, and engaging in other travel that has been deemed "un-American," also met with paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division.