Jenna Bush will visit Salt Lake Friday

Jenna Bush met Ana while working as an intern for UNICEF and was impressed with the 17-year-old mother's confidence and maturity.

Bush's task in Latin America and the Caribbean was to document the lives of children raised in poverty, particularly those who were abused and neglected. At the close of a meeting of women and children living with HIV/AIDS, Ana stood before the group and said, "We are not dying with AIDS; we are living with it. We are survivors."

Over the next six months the two became friends and confidantes, and Bush realized that Ana's story was one that needed to be told.

The result is "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope," which was published by HarperCollins in September. The book will bring Bush to Salt Lake City on Friday as part of a 2 1/2-month book tour. She will speak in Salt Lake City's

Main Library downtown.

"I'm excited to visit Salt Lake," she said by phone from Philadelphia. "My fiance worked there during the Olympics, so he's told me how nice it is. I just wish I had time to go snowboarding."

Coming off Thanksgiving weekend with the first family and a 26th-birthday celebration with her twin sister, Bush said she appreciates the chance to share an important message: Every child deserves a safe, secure life, but not every child gets one.

"More than 2.3 million children worldwide have HIV/AIDS," Bush said. "Millions more face abuse, poverty and neglect."

Ana (the name was changed to protect her privacy) is simply — and profoundly — one of those children. Infected at birth by a mother who had AIDS, she became an orphan at age 3 and was passed from home to home, living a life of secrets, fear and abuse until she ended up in a home for people with HIV/AIDS. There she found love for the first time — but with unexpected consequences.

"When I first met her, I thought she would be sad, scared. But she lives with unbelievable optimism," said Bush. "She is always so positive. She has education about her disease that her mother didn't have. She's working to break the cycle of ignorance and abuse."

The book targets a teen/young-adult audience. Bush hopes that it will help them see how other kids live globally. She hopes it will not only educate them but motivate them. "A lot of kids here have some of these same hardships. I hope it might help them find the courage to get help. And for other kids, I hope they will find inspiration to go out and find a way to make a difference."