“I really enjoy driving a truck.”

Martin van den Berge and his wife felt there were too many people in their home country, the Netherlands. After a vacation trip to northern Sweden, they got a taste for it and now live in a small village outside Arjeplog with only three permanent households. He now drives a truck and is very happy in the small municipality.
- The number of people is the biggest difference!

April 2024 was a highlight for Martin van den Berge and his wife Jessica.

That was when the family moved from the Netherlands, with its 18 million inhabitants, to the small village of Kallön outside Arjeplog. Talk about a contrast.

Martin landed a temporary position as a sanitation worker for the municipality of Arjeplog, and when that ended, he spent a season handling bookings for the region’s automotive testing operations. When Martin applied for a sanitation worker position again a little later, luck was on his side, and this time he was offered a permanent position.

Martin really enjoys his job, especially the work hours and the relaxed pace. During the summer, he drives a dump truck, and in the winter, there’s a lot of work at the recycling center.

“It’s an independent job—I’m my own boss. I enjoy driving the truck around the municipality, surrounded by the beautiful scenery. I meet a lot of people and have great coworkers and an equally great boss,” says Martin, who has now been promoted to coordinator of sludge transport in the municipality.

Sharp Contrasts

Martin’s wife, Jessica, works in home care, and the couple really enjoys living in the small village of Kallön, which is about a half-hour drive from the town of Arjeplog. They bought the house through a real estate agent they were put in touch with by the municipality’s new-resident guide.

The Netherlands, with its 18 million residents, stands in stark contrast to little Arjeplog, which has just over 2,600 residents in the entire municipality. The couple never really felt at home in the Netherlands and were drawn to the peaceful country up north, where Martin’s wife had previously worked for periods of time.

“We went to Sweden on vacation, drove around in our RV, and talked to people. We felt most at home in northern Sweden—because of the beautiful scenery, but also because there are fewer people there, and the people are so friendly,” says Martin.

Around the same time they decided to move to Sweden, they met a representative from the Eures project at a large immigrant fair. She invited them to Luleå and recommended Arjeplog, which offered both job opportunities and the tranquility the couple was looking for. Once in Arjeplog, they got in touch with a relocation counselor who put them in touch with a real estate agent.

–Once we’d bought the house, it only took half a year before we moved in. So it happened quickly. But before that, we’d gone through a 5- to 6-year process during which, among other things, we learned the basics of the Swedish language through an online course at Folkuniversitetet. Since then, I’ve taught myself by listening to my coworkers and daring to speak up. My wife is better at Swedish than I am, but then again, she’s also taken SFI classes.

Doing some work on the house

In the small village of Kallön, there are three permanent households; the rest are vacation homes that fill up with people both in the summer and in the winter. In their free time, the van den Berge couple usually work on their house, go for walks, take the boat out on the lake—and maybe catch a fish—or take a trip in their RV.

The biggest difference compared to living in the Netherlands is the number of people, according to Martin.
–The Netherlands has a population of 9 miljoner människor in an area the same size as Arjeplog. That’s a big difference!

Martin highly recommends that anyone considering moving to Sweden head to Arjeplog and the surrounding area. The municipality is particularly in need of healthcare and social services staff, but the inland region is also ideal for running a business, especially in the tourism industry.

“And if you just want to come here as a tourist, there are both campsites and nice parking spots for RVs,” Martin suggests.

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Text: Monica Wiksten Gideonsson
Photo: www.ricke.se