Between 2001 and 2005 I lived with my family in Kampong Thom, in central Cambodia. It was my first long term project abroad. I worked a lot in pagodas and with pagoda community committees and learned a lot about how these groups can help their communities and about the recent history of Cambodia. I am greatly indebted to all the people I met during those years in the pagodas of the province of Kampong Thom