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Home \ Providence Associates \ Scott Manning
Scott Manning
Associate has experience of a lifetime
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| The efforts of Providence Associates like Scott Manning are critical to the sisters' work. Here he helps out at a building site in El Salvador. |
A few years ago, a team of Providence Associates in Spokane planned to send people to El Salvador to help with construction projects.
When Scott Manning was asked to join the group, he said yes. Scott, a media specialist in Educational Services at Sacred Heart Medical Center, has been a Providence Associate since 1987.
As is the case of several other associates, Scott is not Catholic, but says, "I like to be involved with anything that has honorable endeavors, helping other people."
Cooks at church soup kitchen in Spokane
Most of his role as an associate has involved volunteering at local community programs, including serving as a cook at St. Anne's parish, which operates a soup kitchen for the poor.
Going to a third-world country like El Salvador would be a life-changing experience for Scott, who had never been to any other country except Canada. And life-changing it was - as quickly as the first day at his construction site in La Papalota.
Like many nearby caserios (rural, peasant villages), La Papalota had recently been devastated by an earthquake. Some homes remained standing, albeit with their roofs torn off and their walls caving in, but many others had been reduced to piles of rubble.
A member of the National Geographic Society, Scott had read stories and seen photographs of places like La Papalota, but was humbled by the experience of witnessing firsthand the conditions in which the people of the village lived.
"When you experience it by being there yourself, it strikes you really hard, how life is for people under those conditions," he says.
Amazed by villagers' ability, solidarity
At the construction site, Scott worked with villagers, who helped lay foundations, tie rebar, soak bricks and spread mortar. He was amazed at their ability to work without the convenience of modern tools and at the way they worked in solidarity. After all, they were building homes for others, not themselves.
"The culture shock was pretty overwhelming at first, especially with the language barrier," says Scott, who doesn't speak Spanish. "But as I hauled cement in wheelbarrows and did what I could to help, these people treated me with utmost respect. We figured out a way to communicate somehow, and eventually were even able to joke with each other. I ended up having a wonderful time.
"I learned that being there was important, for them and for me," says Scott. "I had thought they might think we were being pretentious Americans by stepping in, but instead, they were touched and so was I.
"I'm amazed that there is so much strife in their lives because they are so sincere and peaceful. I found great enjoyment with them."
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