40 Steps | Chè-lâm Presbyterian Church in Taipei
Films screened
40 Steps
The residents of the Shapira neighbourhood are relatively disadvantaged socially and economically. This diverse district of Tel Aviv dates back to 1924, when it was founded by a Jewish community. Its first residents included Bukharan Jews from Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia, Mizrahi Jews from Turkey and Afghanistan, Greek Jews, and Ashkenazi Jews from Europe. Over time Shapira also absorbed migrants, migrant workers and refugees from many places — Palestinians, people from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan, and Arab residents — making it one of the most ethnically varied and structurally complex neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv.
That diversity also marks a gap in status: the distance between Shapira and the wealthy north of the city is plain. Close to the centre and relatively cheap to rent in, it has drawn many young people, so its population keeps shifting. People from different cultural backgrounds bring their own traditions and values, weaving a delicate, moving balance.
It is in this social and cultural setting that the Shapira neighbourhood school was founded — established to answer the needs of these disadvantaged groups, in the hope that education could help the next generation out of poverty and open a more hopeful road for a community living with difference.