An hour later Juan was asleep in an operating theatre. All the time he was in there, members of Operation Smile bringing children down for their operations would ask "How's Juan?", "How's our boy?" Over the next two hours his lip was repaired by Randy Sherman, one of the foremost cranio-facial surgeons in California. The original plan was to fit Juan with an obturator - a temporary removable palate - but because he lived in an orphanage where it would be very hard to keep it clean the idea was abandoned.

Juan Rodriguez is lucky to be alive. He was born in Otuzco, a small village in the low Andes mountains north west of Trujillo. To the Indians of Otuzco, to be born with a cleft palate is to be born cursed. They believe that a lighting strike close by a pregnant woman walking in a thunderstorm causes the cleft palate and brings bad luck on the whole community so that their flocks will die. Babies born with such deformities are often left exposed on mountainsides, thrown over cliffs or drowned.

Juan was sent to live with his aunt in Trujillo, who treated him as little more than an unpaid servant. At school the other children mocked him. As his mouth was so ill formed it was hard to understand him so the hard-pressed teachers paid him little attention. When he was six Juan decided that if he was going to be treated like a dog he might as well live free. He ran away and was living rough on the streets when the Trujillo police found him. As he refused to return to his aunt the local authorities placed him in the local orphanage.

Inside Juan there runs an indomitable spirit, a determination to be loved. God only knows what he has truly been through in his short life but when he bonds with an adult it is instantaneous and he demands to be hugged and carried. Maria, a local social worker, was captivated by the boy. One day she heard on the radio that Operation Smile was coming to Peru for the first time. She told Juan about it. He decided they would go to Lima. The bus ride took three days.

When Juan arrived at the hospital for the screening process his chances of acceptance were low. There were 525 candidates and only 150 surgical spots. The priority for fixing cleft palates is in younger children whose speech patterns are not fully developed. (In the west children are often operated on before they turn two). Within minutes Juan had all the volunteers rooting for him. One American girl started reading him his favourite story out loud but because her Spanish was not good enough Juan ended up reading it to her. Juan knows The Ugly Duckling by heart.

"On every trip we do," said Beth, the Operation Smile representative, "there is always one personality who stands out." In the past 18 years, Operation Smile has operated on 55,000 children in 20 developing countries - many of which have the same attitudes towards children with facial deformities as Juan's village. Plastic surgeons, nurses, paediatric specialists and volunteers give up their time to operate, primarily on children whose families cannot afford to pay for help. It is such a simple procedure which can within two hours change the course of a life and turn a curse into a blessing.

The next day when Goldie came in to record her PSA (Public Service Announcement) for LISTEN she gave Juan a stuffed bear which he promptly beat up before cuddling. Then she sang to him crooning "that face is just a miracle". Juan was still groggy from the operation so after a while he went out to play balloon football with Kurt, Oliver and Boston who were equally taken with the small boy.

Goldie listened as other children told her what having the operation meant to their lives. "I can go to school now," seven-year-old Sonia Guerrero Chicali told her, "I started first grade but all the other children teased me because I looked bad. I stopped going three years ago. I won't look at my new face until I go home. But the first thing I shall do is talk to my daddy." Carlitos Gamarra Zanati, five, had a partially successful operation on his mouth when he was one. He would need another one as his lip was still badly scarred and his teeth were held in a plastic cover yet Carlitos had little awareness that he had had a problem. He was a little lady killer who had "lots of girlfriends I like to kiss. In fact tomorrow I am getting married."

"Can I be your girlfriend too?" asked Goldie. The little boy went up and whispered something in her ear.

"He says no," said the translator, "He already has five girlfriends." The Hollywood star giggled. "I've never been turned down by a five-year-old before."

Goldie was listening to Juan, Carlitos and Sonia for the charity project LISTEN. The campaign brings together film stars, music stars, dignitaries, film directors, writers and visual artists in a bid to raise awareness and money for the world's most disadvantaged children. The campaign culminates in a globally broadcast media event.

But in many ways the money, which will go to pre-designated children's charities, of which Operation Smile is one, is secondary to the major cause. LISTEN is about listening to the rights and needs of children. Which is what appealed to Goldie Hawn? "I did this because I have completely and absolutely always loved children," she said "Down here in Lima, Kurt and I have met two children who we could take home tomorrow.but won't . At least we can give them the option for a better life; I think we can do that from afar".

"Ultimately what drew me to this project is the smile. It is something that changes energy; it is a common language that does not have to be interpreted in any way. If we can't laugh how can we listen?"

"There is a time to talk and there is a time to listen. I did notice that the child's personality was affected by their inability to speak but not by how they looked. Communication is more important to people than the way we look. If you have people who love you and are supportive then eventually you can get around that."

"Right after Private Benjamin, I did a TV special called 'Kids: Listen to Them' built around a six-hour talk session," she said. "They got to ask questions they didn't normally ask - what it's like to lose a parent, what it feels like to be black in a school full of white children, about gaining their sexuality. Until then they felt nobody ever waited around for an answer. As parents, I think our job is not to impose our beliefs - we should listen and then guide."

Before leaving the hospital Goldie went to have her photograph taken with Juan. For a while he did not want to do it. So she switched into overdrive, a Hollywood star performing for a Peruvian boy, dancing down the corridor, fingers clicking like castañets, taking giant steps then tiny ones, cajoling him into joining her. Finally he acquiesced - they walked hand in hand down the hospital corridor. Goldie did a soft-shoe shuffle. They both giggled.