The contrasts are enormous in Tilburg Noord. With 120 different nationalities, the district is rich in culture, but the income is largely half below average. Omroep Brabant is visiting for a week. With people who help: “You buy a cup of soup here for 75 cents.” And we get advice: “I would flatten this square and start over.”
The Verdiplein is the place where we will camp. There is a fish restaurant, a hairdresser, a shop with African beauty products. And a baker: Saada. And there it is, whenever you come, busy. You can buy your bread there, of course, but also sit down for a while. Breakfast, with a pot of Moroccan mint tea, is popular until late in the day.
Owner is Daoud Ouzzegane. He grew up in Morocco, came to the Netherlands at the age of sixteen and started working in a bakery. Eighteen years ago he started his own business: “It’s hard work, but I can’t complain. It’s going well.”
“There is loitering youth, but you have them everywhere.”
Daoud has seen Verdiplein change. From a place where he sometimes had to run outside to tear apart fighting boys to what it is today: “It’s been going really well lately. There is occasional loitering youth, but you have them everywhere.”
Maria Antonietta Gallo also sees the loiterers in her neighbourhood, around the Sibeliusflat, a few blocks away. “Especially children between the ages of 8 and 21, who now hang out in the street a bit in the summer and don’t really have a goal. They can’t go on vacation either. So they start destroying things out of boredom.”
From eight years old? Yes, really: “It often starts with older brothers, cousins. They see them on the street and they follow suit. So you have to see what you can offer those children. So that they can do something they like and that contributes to a better neighbourhood. And then they are an example for their younger brothers, sisters and neighborhood children.”
Antonietta knows the neighborhood inside and out. With her organization Tira mi su she helps local residents who are in need of clothing and stuff: just what they need. In this way they alleviate their poverty. And because all those second-hand items are reused, she is also working sustainably.
“Isn’t there a housing shortage? Then build flats here.”
From Monday 31 July to Friday 4 August, reporters Agnes van der Straaten and Tom van den Oetelaar will be in Tilburg Noord. A neighborhood full of challenges. From the possible arrival of a manure factory that can cause odor nuisance to the expansion of the power network, which Antonietta looks forward to in her Sibelius flat. And then another 5000 homes have to be built.
With regard to the latter, Daoud has a tip for the municipality: “If it’s up to me, they’ll just flatten Verdiplein and rebuild it here.”
He would like to take his bakery to the large shopping center a little further on, on Wagnerplein: “Isn’t there a housing shortage? Only build houses and flats here.”
When Agnes and Tom are not out and about, they are at Saada bakery. They go looking for the stories in the neighborhood. Hints? Mail [email protected].
Maria Antonietta with a satisfied customer and employees of Tira mi su (photo: Imke van de Laar)Broodjes at Saada bakery in Tilburg Noord (photo: Omroep Brabant).
2023-07-30 07:00:48
#Broadcasting #Brabant #camps #Tilburg #North #story
