In a Rocket Made of Ice

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.