Book ship to visit Cebu next month

CEBU, Philippines - The sister ship of the popular floating library MV Duolos is visiting Cebu for the first time on January.

This was shared by Gerard Van de Pol and Felicia Thong, project managers of LOGOS HOPE, the newest ship that has replaced the now retired MV Duolos.

Van de Pol said they are excited to open the doors of the new ship to Cebu, which would be their first stop for their visit to the Philippines.

Van de Pol said that they expect more people to visit the ship especially in Cebu, following the huge number of visitors that MV Duolos gathered every time it was here. He explained that MV Duolos has been decommissioned because the ship was already 96 years old.

Logos Hope has nine decks, one of which is open to the public and where the library is located, along with a food café and internet shop. The other decks are the crew’s cabin, conference rooms and theatre halls.

According to him, they have had over 16,000 visitors in a day inside the ship in other countries.

“Maybe Cebu can beat that,” said Van de Pol, though he said that 10,000 would already be a good number per day.

Logos Hope, which replaced MV Duolos in 2009, carries over 5000 book titles and more than half a million books.

Van de Pol said that in every country they visit, they try to partner with local publishers in order to cater the needs of the readers in each country. But aside from that, he said that they have a lot of books to offer ranging from children’s books, encyclopedias, cook books, and more.

Van de Pol said that since they have participating publishers, books are cheaper and affordable.

The ship’s name Logos means word in Greek. It is aimed to “bring knowledge, help and hope” to the countries and cities they visit, says Van de Pol.

“We visit every country where help is needed or where we are invited,” he added.

The ship has over 400 staff volunteers from over 45 nations, including some Filipinos and one Cebuano.

Felicia Thong said that they also have the families of the volunteers on board including children, which makes it one happy community on board.

They will also be opening positions for interested volunteers from Cebu, but reminded that all their volunteers are not paid and are all working for one good cause.

Aside from the librabry, the ship has on-board programs and walk through lessons on important issues like HIV.

They are also hoping to get more participation from schools in Cebu, both public and private, who can send their students to the ship on a tour.

Thong said that they are also eyeing partnerships with local organizations that are supporting different causes like children and women’s rights organizations which can help them on educational programs on board.

The ship is currently in Singapore but would be docking in Cebu, near the Malacañang sa Sugbo, on January 10 and would be open to the public by January 11 to February 12, 2012.

For purchases, they would be accepting Philippine Peso and credit cards.

After Cebu, the ship is to sail to Manila, Subic Bay and Batangas. – (FREEMAN)