In a Rocket Made of Ice: The Story of Wat Opot, a Visionary Community for Children Growing Up with AIDS

In 1997 Wayne Dale Matthysse, a former Marine Corps medic who served in Vietnam, returned to South East Asia offer his service . With Vandin San, a brilliant young Cambodian aid worker, he transformed Wat Opot, a haunted scrubland behind a ruined temple, into a place of healing and respite. Here children with or orphaned by HIV/AIDS—the first generation of children to grow up with AIDS—could find a new family, and live outside of fear or judgment.

Disarming, funny, deeply moving, In a Rocket Made of Ice gathers the hopeful stories of children saved and changed by this very special place; the story of a war veteran’s redemption; and the story of the author’s transformation in her contact with the powerful life force of Wat Opot.