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Dying with Dignity. |
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World traveler, Writer, and Volunteer |
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The Old Tamarind Tree |
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One of the six children in the front row does not have AIDS. |
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Friends for a Lifetime |
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Vesna has lost more friends than most of us will ever know. |
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The Family Room |
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Most of the Gang |
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Gone but not forgotten. |
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Helping women make a fresh start in life. |
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Staff and residents of the WAT OPOT PROJECT |
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Wat Opot Pagoda |
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Baty, Takeo Cambodia |
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Vandin San |
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Wayne Dale Matthysse |
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Co-founder Project Manager |
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Duch Tel |
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Spiritual Advisor Counselor |
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The ARK Center |
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The Anti Retroviral Kare Center built in 2001. |
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Patient Care |
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Gail Gutradt |
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Weaving Center |
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Co-Founder Director |
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THE WAT OPOT PROJECT 2001 / 2006 A HEALING COMMUNITY FOR BOTH BODY AND SOUL
(Click on picture for enlargement and explanation) |
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WAT OPOT (Wat surrounded by creeks)
Many years ago, before the Viet Nam War and before the Genocide that followed, when Cambodia was considered the “Jewel of the Orient” and a favored place for Holiday... Opot was an active teaching Buddhist Wat. During the Khmer Rouge Era however it became a place of interrogation and death.
The Temple was in ruins and the surrounding area unkempt by the time we looked at the place in 1999. In my mind it ranked at the bottom of the list of possible Wats we could have built our hospice on. As we investigated other more suitable Wats however we found the neighboring communities to be less then enthusiastic about our plans to bring in dying AIDS patients and in the end, Wat Opot was the only place we felt welcomed.
The spelling “Opot”, I am told by many, is not correct. Some say it should be Opoat and others spell it Oport . “Opot” came about on the day Vandin and I decided to build our project here. Vandin’s English was not so good at that time and my Khmer was even worse. Verbal communication was not however what brought us together, it was our co-commitment to helping those we saw suffering from the effects of HIV and AIDS. Neither one of us, at that time, thought it would make that much difference how we spelt it.
We have gone through a lot of changes in the past few years and here you are invited to read about our progress. We sure do appreciate your interest in our program and should you like to know more about how you can be a part of us, here is where you can make contact .
The Cindy McCain Visit/ 23 June 2008
YMCA Hong Kong Visit / 21 August 2008
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