Military Sealift Command (MSC) Civilian Mariners (CIVMARs) assigned to dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Charles Drew (T-AKE 10) participated in a community outreach event at a school for the Aeta indigenous people of the Philippines in Subic during a routine visit to the Philippines, Dec. 4, 2024.
During the event, about 40 CIVMARs handed out donated items, performed minor school projects, and played games with the students of the Aningway-Sacatihan Elementary School Annex/High School in the Aeta Village Center in Subic, which is in the province of Zambales, a mountainous region about 50 miles northwest of Manila.
The Aeta, one of the Philippines’ oldest indigenous groups, often live in remote mountainous regions with limited resources. This outreach brought welcomed supplies and, just as importantly, a day of connection and celebration for the community’s youth.
The donated items mostly originated from Singapore and included donated books, toys and clothing items from various Singapore international schools, and the American community in Singapore.
MSC Far East has a continued relationship of outreach with Aningway-Sacatihan Elementary School Annex/High School.
“We’ve been here a couple of times,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jamil A. Khan, chaplain, MSC Far East. “In Singapore, we receive donations from several schools at different times, so our collections are somewhat staggered. So, we keep coming back with different crews.”
According to Khan, he keeps coming back to this Aeta school because he feels there’s a strong need within this community.
“As most schools in Singapore transition to digital books, they are donating their old textbooks,” said Khan. “I’m collecting all those old textbooks, taking them here and continuing to support this school because there’s a great need out here.”
The crew of Charles Drew also gathered donations from fellow crewmembers and distributed items purchased locally, such as sandals and lunch.
“We are so excited to be here, we love doing this,” said Erica Davis, 2nd officer, Charles Drew. “We have about 40 volunteers. We have a small crew right now, so it’s about three-quarters of the ship out here. When we asked for volunteers, there was no hesitation, almost everyone we asked said they’d do it.”
According to Davis, a lot of the crew are from the Philippines and were eager to give back and see the happy faces on the kids.
“They just wanted to help the kids,” said Davis. “It hits home for the holiday season. Especially with a lot of people being away from home right now, they get gratification seeing little kids happy.”
Students treated the Charles Drew crew with choreographed dance routines that was met with loud cheers and great appreciation.
At the request of the school, the crew performed minor repairs and beautification projects. A few members provided their expertise in repairing a damaged basketball backboard and rim, while others performed minor painting projects.
In another special project request, school administrators requested assistance in preparing and planting a vegetable garden used to help feed students. A group of CIVMARs, along with the school’s high school students, reached for the gardening tools and cleared, tilled the soil, and planted seeds in an area marked for the garden.
“The high school students, along with some of our CIVMARs cleaned up the vegetable garden area, built trenches and planted vegetable seeds,” said Khan. “Hopefully, that garden will be able to help feed this community.”
MSC Far East organized the planning, coordination and execution, while the Charles Drew crew members provided the manpower.
MSC Far East supports the U.S. 7th Fleet and ensures approximately 50 ships in the Indo-Pacific Region are manned, trained, and equipped to deliver essential supplies, fuel, cargo, and equipment to warfighters, both at sea and on shore.
U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024, MSC exists to support the joint warfighter across the full spectrum of military operations, with a workforce that includes approximately 6,000 civil service mariners and 1,100 contract mariners, supported by 1,500 shore staff and 1,400 active duty and reserve military personnel.