A multicultural neighbourhood: Schilderswijk

There are a lot of cultures in Holland, especially in The Hague. The Hague has got a really multicultural society. In our city there are many different neighbourhoods. On of those neighbourhoods is called the Schilderswijk. This neighbourhood is one of the poorest in the Netherlands. It was built in the 19th century; it hasn’t developed that well since then, because of its poverty. Schilderswijk has got 32.000 inhabitants. Most of the inhabitants in Schilderswijk (87%) aren’t from Dutch origin. They are mostly are from Turkey, Surinam and Morocco. The neighbourhood Schilderswijk has an area of 149 hectometres [squared]. It may be a poor neighbourhood, but that doesn’t mean that there doesn’t happen anything special there. There are festivals held there like Ha-Schi-Ba (Haagse-Schilderwijk-Bazar). This festival is meant for everyone, so you can experience the feeling of belonging together: everyone is equal.
Our opinion about the Schilderswijk:
The Schilderswijk has got a very bad name, because it is a very poor neighbourhood. It looks bad, which makes the inhabitants look like very aggressive people. There also aren’t that many Dutch people, which causes discrimination. The government has to solve these kinds of problems quickly!
Sahir Kassem and Joshua Susanto, T2A.http://www.hofvanwouw.nl/Geloveninschilderswijk.jpg (picture)