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.

Gail Gutradt has volunteered at the Wat Opot Children’s Community in Cambodia since 2005. Her stories, articles, and poems have appeared in the Japan-based Kyoto Journal, as well as in the Utne Reader and Ashé Journal. Her first Kyoto Journal article, “The Things We’ve Gone Through Together,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Bar Harbor, Maine.