Fundación Aventura is currently accepting applications to serve in a short term capacity as part of the adventure therapy team! Volunteers assist in planning and leading adventure activities in the Cochabamba area. Contact us at info@fundacionaventura.org for details.
Brian McArthur – Director
I am blown away when I consider how this Adventure Therapy Program fulfills what I consider my calling in God’s kingdom which, although taken out of context, is described perfectly in Joshua 1:14-15: “You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them.” I have a passion for discipleship, being real and living life to the full.
That passion is born out in the work we do with the young people who come through our adventure therapy camps. It’s a perfect combination of thrill, adventure, relationship building, challenge, growth and wonder.
The idea for this program was born during a short term mission trip to the Bolivia Life Center over New Years 2010 through National Community Church. On this trip God laid it on my heart to come back and work with these boys on a more permanent basis, incorporating my love of the outdoors into a therapy program that would address their needs as trauma victims. In February of 2011, I came to live and work alongside them in Bolivia.
Having grown up in spectacular northern Arizona, I’ve developed a strong love of the outdoors, which is one of the primary ways I experience God’s presence. I strive to share this love with the boys and to help them discover a way in which God meets with them as well. I am inspired by the victories our boys have had over fears, a sense of impotency and victimization. They are growing to be strong men; decisive, daring, compassionate, honest, and responsible. God is doing an amazing work and I am thrilled to be a part of it.
Brian has a BA in International Development from the University of Arizona in Tucson
Anna Hart Mamani – Deputy Director
Anna, an Oklahoma native, earned her BA at Palm Beach Atlantic University where she discovered her great loves of psychology (her major), for at-risk youth while volunteering for an inner-city ministry, and for South America after mission trips to Brazil, Bolivia, and Venezuela. After graduation, Anna became a counselor and supervisor for a Wilderness Education Program for juvenile delinquents and quickly added adventure therapy to her list of loves with canoe trips down the Suwannee River and backpacking the Appalachian Trail. A few years later, Anna began leading mission trips to Bolivia and jumped when the opportunity arose to move to Cochabamba and live full time in an orphanage. Meeting her greatest love at a bonfire, Anna was married to Angel Mamani in 2013. Now working with Fundación Aventura an ideal combination of what Anna loves has been found. She looks forward to working and adventuring with you!
Lauren Allen – Experiential Learning Advisor and Debriefing Extraordinaire
Born and raised in a small rural town in Ohio, Lauren developed a heart to serve others as a pre-teen as she began seeking for volunteer opportunities in her surrounding area. Consequently feeling led by God to pursue a degree in the helping professions upon graduating high school, Lauren obtained her BA in Psychology from Bellarmine University in Louisville. During her time at Bellarmine, Lauren felt called to mission work overseas and joined a mission team traveling to Haiti shortly after the devastating earthquake to provide support for an orphanage affected by the tragedy.
Upon receiving her Masters in clinical counseling in Cincinnati, Ohio, Lauren began working with children, adolescents, and adults within a community mental health center. While working within the agency, Lauren became interested in experiential and adventure therapy modalities as an avid nature enthusiast and athlete herself. Lauren was visiting NCC church in DC while in town for a triathlon and was fortunate to learn about Fundación Aventura during the service. Realizing the foundation was utilizing the exact modalities to inspire hope and change in the youth in Bolivia she had been researching, Lauren excitedly jumped on the opportunity to volunteer with the organization.
Lauren quickly realized the immense impact the foundation was having on the lives of the youth in Bolivia and shortly after returning home, accepted a position at a therapeutic boarding school in West Virginia for girls where she is continuing to develop and hone in her skills in experiential therapies by taking the girls on trips such as white water rafting and camping as well as spear heading mission trips to Nicaragua. Lauren looks forward to ongoing growth and using her skills to continuing to support and assist the foundation in whatever capacity she is able.
Fundación Aventura 