As the mother of one of Hollywood's top celebrities Leslie Hawke - Ethan's mum - could be enjoying a luxurious lifestyle with invites to top film premiers and VIP parties.

But five years ago she traded in her luxurious Manhattan home and well-paid job for a small flat that at first did not even have running water in one of Europe's most impoverished countries - Romania.

Leslie, now aged 53, gave it all up after what she admits was a life changing experience with a small boy called Alex who she rescued from a life as a beggar. She sold her house and moved to Romania where she used the money to help give hope to people without any.

She met Alex shortly after arriving to work for a while with the peace corps in Bacau, a small industrial town in north eastern Romania. She  said: "I only initially planned to come for a short time as a peace corps volunteer. I remember I looked out of my apartment window one day and saw a barefooted little boy who was begging from car drivers. He was there every day, darting in between cars, begging for money when they stopped at the lights. He was so tiny, he had to stand on his tiptoes to reach the windows. It was one of the busiest intersections in the city and I was terrified he was going to get knocked over."

Leslie struck up a friendship with Alex, who she found out was eight years old despite his tiny size. She thought he was an orphan and bought him cookies and a pair of trainers, and despite not being able to speak the language, persuaded him to go with her to a children's shelter.

She said: "He looked as though he had just stepped into Disneyland. But that was not the end of the story. Three days later, his mother appeared. She stormed into the shelter and berated its staff for depriving her family of its livelihood. She said 'How are the rest of my family supposed to eat? There are many other kids on the street, go and pick on one of them'.

"From this I learned that the majority of children on Bacau's streets are neither orphans nor homeless, but have been sent out to 'work' by their families.

"They make more money begging than their parents could, even if they were to find a job," said Leslie, adding that the problem was most pervasive among the gypsy communities.

"The Roma are treated like third class citizens and can rarely find a job - even for the most menial work."

She admits the scale of the poverty and the stories like that of Alex was something she had no idea of when she had first arrived in Romania as a peace corps volunteer - and that's why five years later she is still living in this impoverished state helping women and their children start new lives.

"I was surprised to see how poor Romania was even 10 years after the fall of communism. You expect poverty in the third world, but not in Europe. And even though things have improved considerably there's still a long way to go," she said as she drives through the dusty streets of Bacau, the town that has now become her home.

And despite the lack of luxury she says she would not give back her tiny flat in Romania for her former apartment in Manhattan.

Her new home is more of a dormitory than a house. It has just three rooms that she shares with two other women who also work for her organisation.

She said: "Basically, we just sleep there. If we entertain, we do it in the  staff room of the school.

"I sold my old apartment in New York City for 525,000 dollars (283,000 pounds) and bought the school building and cottage for 250,000 dollars (135,000 pounds). Counting the school, I have a lot more room now."

She added: "This is the happiest I have been for a long time.

"I don't miss New York at all and have no regrets leaving. The way of life here is not really that much different from America. You still get up each morning, go to work and then go home again in the evening. The only difference is here my work is so much more fulfilling.

"I had always felt conflicted about working for money instead of for love - but the money was always so compelling, especially as I lived in New York. But one day I woke up and realised there was more to life.

"The internet makes being away much easier and there are friends I chat to more now than I did when we lived in the same country. The only thing I really miss is the theatre - it's not exactly Broadway here," she said with a smile, adding: "I also miss the glitz and glamour of Hollywood premiers - especially those of my son. I loved all the glamour of getting dressed up and going to the opening nights of new films, who wouldn't?"

But life is dramatic enough now for Leslie who says she is so busy that she wouldn't have much time to visit the theatre anyway.

Armed with a background in education and business, Leslie was put to work by the Peace Corps in an NGO that aims to help Romania's disadvantaged through social, medical and educational programmes.

Her job at the Fundatia de Sprijin Comunitar, Community Support Foundation or FSC for short, was to assist on the administrational side using her business skills to acquire funding and organise the budget.

Her experiences with Alex however made her believe there was another role for her within the organisation, and as a result she set up a programme that not only helps get kids off the street and into school - but also gives the mothers practical advice and training to get jobs. 

The programme 'Ready, Willing and Able', which operates within the FSC and is funded by grants from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has now helped 60 mainly Roma women find work, including jobs as cleaners, assistant nurses and painters and decorators.

The programme also provides special "reintegration" lessons for children who have been forced to drop out of school and who will, thanks to the help of the programme, eventually be put back into classes with children their own age. 

"Gypsy children are not excluded from school, but their families usually cannot afford to pay for new clothes or books," said Leslie, adding that it was also rare for authorities to actively seek out Roma children to enrol in schools. "There's a lot of passive racism," she said.

The programme now has three classrooms at its disposal and a team of 20 permanent and voluntary teachers who get the children up to speed in everything from maths and Romanian to geography and history.

Mum Aurica Pascu, who has nine children, is one of 60 Roma women to have "graduated" from Leslie's programme.

She says she has a lot to thank Leslie and her team of eight staff for.

"Life is very different now. Before I joined the programme I had no money and my children were forced to beg on the streets. But now I have a job and four of my children can go to school.

"I no longer fight with my husband and it is good to know that we can have food everyday," said the 44-year-old, who earns around 50 pounds a month as a cleaner in the mayor's office.

And her 34-year-old sister-in-law Crizantema Pascu described Leslie as a "Godsend". "Before Leslie came here, nobody helped us. Now I have a clean home and money every month. And my children are much happier at school than at home.

"Leslie is a wonderful person - and we love her very much."

Leslie, an attractive blonde whose face reflects that of her son's, describes her "pupils" graduation ceremonies as the "high points in my life".

"Everyone deserves the right and chance to work, and the ability to look after oneself and one's family is fundamental," she added.

Asked why she chose to focus on helping women and not men, Leslie quoted the famed Scottish-American sociologist Robert Morrison McIver: "When you educate a man, you educate an individual. When you educate a woman, you educate a family."

For the most part, those she works with have no idea of her Hollywood connection. "Some of the women who work at the organisation know who my son is, but the majority of the children and mothers don't know," she said.

Ethan, who has visited Bacau twice and reportedly donated 37,000 dollars (20,000 pounds) to help set up Ready, Willing and Able, is very supportive of his mum and calls her an "inspiration". He also said that "social consciousness was a part of my growing up".

Speaking to Romanian media after his first visit to Bacau in November 2000, Hawke said: "So many people talk about wanting to make some kind of dramatic change in life. But she actually did it. Personally, I think she's an inspiration."

And both mother and son admit that Leslie is renowned for making impulsive decisions. "My mother has always been one of those people who follows her heart," said Ethan.

With a salary of around 100 pounds a month Leslie, a former Internet publisher, says she has enough to lead a comfortable life in Bacau and travel to the Romanian capital Bucharest several times a month to meet friends and dine out.

She recalls a time when her daughter-in-law, Uma Thurman, who has now split up with Ethan but who still supports Leslie's charity, sent her a Gucci cocktail dress for Christmas.

"After telling my son how cold it was here in winter I expected a suitcase full of long johns and woolly jumpers for Christmas. Instead Uma sent me a red Gucci cocktail dress. She said 'We don't want you to lose touch with that side of yourself'."

Leslie now wears the red dress for special occasions in Romania.

She prefers not to comment on her son's private life and avoids questions about his marriage to Uma.

But she is immensely proud him - posters from Ethan's movies adorn her walls alongside paintings by respected Romanian artist Ilie Boca. She is also very proud of the achievements of the FSC and the women who take part in her project.

"It's not been easy. We have had to fight every step of the way to get funding and backing from local authorities and it was a struggle at the start to persuade families to take part. But I am very proud of everyone who has been involved in this project."
As for the future, Leslie says she plans to remain in Romania and would like to extend the programme to more people in other cities.

"We are already planning to open up an office in Bucharest to do the same thing there, and Ethan has agreed to do some kind of fund raising event for it, maybe a dinner auction.

"Ensuring we have enough money to keep the project running is always a problem, especially as our grant from USAID is coming to an end. We need to find more investors," said Leslie, who sold her New York apartment to move to Bacau.

And a private donation of just 160 pounds a year would equip a child with shoes, clothing, food, school books and tuition.

Little Alex, who is now 12, is just one of Leslie's successes and has a much brighter future ahead of him now he attends school.

"It's all about prevention really," said Leslie. "We have to get these kids off the streets before they enter their teenage years and run off to bigger cities or other countries, where they often end up turning to drugs and alcohol and end up homeless.

"And of course a change in attitude is needed. We want to show that Roma are no different to Romanians and are just as hard-working, clever and honest," she said.

Leslie divides her time between Bacau and Bucharest, where she is helping to co-ordinate the setting up of a second office. She says her work usually takes her to the capital city two days a week.

Generally she spends up to 12 hours a day working, either taking care of administration, meeting with local authorities or organising fundraising events. But she says she particularly looks forward to the few days a month that she manages to get out to the gypsy communities to speak with the men, women and children who need her help.

"Most of my time is spent behind a desk, but I get out to the communities a few times a month. However our staff, which include social workers, psychologists and programme managers, are in the field almost every day," she said.

Although she said there wasn't much distinction between work and play, she admitted to using the services of a personal trainer almost everyday and takes time out to enjoy a local soup and coffee at a local café.

Most of Leslie's socialising takes place in the larger city of Bucharest. "When I'm not working until late in Bacau then I usually watch a video from the US - thanks to my son."