Richards Bay residents on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal have the unique opportunity to visit the MV Logos Hope. The majestic vessel is a floating book fair that presents visitors with the opportunity to both read and purchase books onboard.
The vessel has docked for the first time on South African shores at the Richards Bay Port.
Volunteers on the MV Logos Hope are all smiles, welcoming book worms eager to be lost in their own world from the stories within the pages of a book.
It has been called the world’s largest floating bookfair, a vessel that travels the world carrying over 5 000 books. It is manned by a global village of volunteers. Anastasia Leushkina from Russia is among them.
She speaks about the thrill of working with people from different cultures.
“What I really like about our ship is that we have so much diverse community and we have a lot of different people from more than 65 countries on board who are volunteers. It is more than 400 volunteers on board, it depends of course on the season. We usually have an opportunity to exchange our cultural experiences and to practice languages. When we are on board, we invite local people to have deep language practices.”
#sabcnews Richard’s Bay residents on the north coast of KZN have the unique opportunity to visit ML Logos Hope. The majestic vessel is a floating book fair that presents visitors with the opportunity to both read and purchase books on board. pic.twitter.com/UTHcgpcpTa
— Nonkululeko Hlophe (@Leko3) January 26, 2024
Project Manager Eiki Endo says the common goal, no matter where in the world the vessel finds itself, is to bring hope and humanity to all communities.
“This is the world’s largest floating bookfair and we are also recorded in the Guinness World Records, actually we have over 5 000 different book titles on board from children’s books to academic books, to business books, recipe books, any kind of books that you would love to buy you can find it. It is books for children and for schools, it is one of our values because in some of the areas in the world, there are schools or children who don’t have a textbook, so we love to share the knowledge through the children’s books that can be purchased on board.”
Residents, young and old, from Richard’s Bay and its surrounding areas came out to experience the one-of-a-kind library.
“It is an opportunity for people to come here to see people from all walks of life and to have such an experience is like once in a lifetime opportunity, it is amazing,” says one of the residents.
Another resident says, “In fact, knowledge is very expensive if this vessel comes all the way from wherever. The word of God is why I really came to this vessel in Richards Bay, to add my knowledge about God. I have purchased Miles Monroe’s book, it is about discovering the Kingdom and I am buying my wife, The devotion for women.”
The MV Logos Hope will journey to the Eastern Cape next.
