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Oscar winning Actor Sean Penn recently visited Imbaseni Village in Tanzania to support the work of the Kuji Foundation and the United African Alliance Community Center. Penn recently won the oscar for the 2004 hit, Mystic River. He is currently gracing movie screens around the world in the blockbuster thriller, The Interpreter, which also stars Nicole Kidman.

Penn was accompanied by his wife, Robin Wright-Penn, also an accomplished actress and movie star. The couple and their two children came to the Arusha region for one week, taking in the rich cultural offerings of the local community. However, their primary purpose was to witness the work of Kuji and UAACC, so that they can serve as ambassadors of goodwill back in the United States, sharing the success stories of these organizations with others in the film and entertainment industry.

Penn had recently returned from London where he was supporting the efforts of activists and organizers to urge the G8 countries meeting in Gleneagles to forgive the debt of African nations and increase the amount of aid given by the richest nations. He is also a supporter of the One Campaign to make poverty history. Penn is a highly active member of the global community, constantly lending his time and energy to promote justice and accountability. Penn has travelled extensively in support of openess in the media and fairplay in politcs. He was critized in the west for travelling to Iraq before George Bush's premeditated invasion in 2003. He recently travelled to Iran in an effort to expose the west to what was going on in that country that may not be covered in the nightly news of the Murdoch controlled media monopoly in America, which currently seems set on supporting the Bush administrations efforts to extend their "war against terrorism" to Iraq's neighbors.

This trip was not the first for Penn in support of the Kuji Foundation. A long time supporter and member at large of the foundation, Penn travelled with Kuji founder geronimo ji Jaga to Selma, Alabama in 2000 to support a campaign for fairness and equal access in the electoral process in that city, and across the southern United States, which remain highly segregated and politically backwards even forty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights act of 1965 (of which several key provisions are set to expire in 2007).

During their visit the Penn family visited with students and volunteers at the UAACC, went to a local orphanage, assessed the feasibility and needs of several new projects initiated by KUJI, including a plan to bring solar power to the local village around UAACC and KUJI headquarters, as well as a joint venture with Arusha Node Marie to increase the bandwidth and service of Elimu On Line, ANM's community service component which offers free internet service to qualifying schools and community organizations.