CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- The Filipino youth will be the focus of the world’s largest floating library, MV Doulos, and its 350 Christian volunteers when they return after six years to the Subic Bay Freeport on Dec. 28.

Olga Wiebe, Doulos project coordinator, told the Inquirer that their theme would be “Dare to Dream.”

“At least 80 to 100 of our volunteers from the world over will interact with the Filipino youth through music, dance, drama and life stories to inspire them to dream. It will be like a journey around the world,” she said here last week.

Wiebe said the event, which invited youths from various parts of the Philippines and called the Doulos International Night, is set on Jan. 12 at the Olongapo City Convention Center.

While berthed at the Subic Bay’s Alava Wharf until Jan. 14, Doulos will receive guests to browse through its library that carries more than 6,000 book titles and hundreds of film and music videos.

Doulos, owned by the German charity group Gute Bucher fur Alle (Good Books for All), has sailed to over 100 countries since 1978 to “bring knowledge, help and hope to the nations.”

The ship, the medium through which the volunteers reach people from across the globe, is actually 93 years old or four to five times the age of its volunteers who are between 18 and 25 years old, Wiebe said.

Built in 1914, Doulos had been rebuilt and reengineered twice to make it the oldest ocean-going passenger ship in the world, she said.

After serving as a freighter ship, migrant carrier and cruise liner, Doulos was transformed into a floating library to promote education and international understanding in Latin America, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.

The library is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Mondays.

For information, contact Olga Wiebe at 0916-636-6668 or e-mail at doulos.subicbay@gbaships.org