Most estimates put the number of people of Roma descent in Romania between 2 and 2.5 million. In the communities where my organisation works, children make up approximately half the population. Thus, of the 4.5 million children under 18 in Romania, we estimate that a million or 20 per cent (that’s one in five children) […]

Vivid meets Leslie Hawke, the co-founder of OvidiuRo, a prominent Romanian charity that aims to see every child in school and on the path to high school graduation by the year 2020…

You are a New Yorker, mother of well renowned celebrity, Ethan Hawke. In 2000, after 20 years of management experience in US hi tech companies you chose to join the Peace Corps and established yourself in Bacau, Romania, to support…You are a New Yorker, mother of well renowned celebrity, Ethan Hawke. In 2000, after 20 years of management experience in US hi tech companies you chose to join the Peace Corps and established yourself in Bacau, Romania, to support…

When I interviewed Leslie Hawke, she was the second woman I’d spoken to in two weeks who had altered her life in a single moment. The decision of both women was spontaneous, for the most part, yet not without intellect. Nor, of course, without the wisdom of a life lived (so far)…When I interviewed Leslie Hawke, she was the second woman I’d spoken to in two weeks who had altered her life in a single moment. The decision of both women was spontaneous, for the most part, yet not without intellect. Nor, of course, without the wisdom of a life lived (so far)…