Barbara Smith is an Adorer of the Blood of Christ. Her ministries have been varied and enriching, including work at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas, and parish ministry for 24 years among the Navajo in Crownpoint, New Mexico; there she also served on the board for the Native American Lay Ministry and Diaconate Program. Called first to regional leadership and most recently congregational leadership in Rome, she is currently a member of the Community Life Team at the Ruma Center in Ruma, Illinois.

This story appears in the HIV/AIDS Ministry feature series. View the full series.

When Santa Clara Home opened in 1994, Chile still didn't have treatment for HIV infection. Infants and children brought to the orphanage in Santiago for children with HIV and AIDS came for death with dignity, said Sr. Nora Valencia of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Jesus, the director of Santa Clara Home.