"I enjoy driving a truck."

Martin van den Berge and his wife thought there were too many people in the Netherlands. After a holiday trip to northern Sweden, they got blooded tooth and now live in a small village outside Arjeplog with only three permanent households. Now he drives a truck and enjoys himself in the small town.
The amount of people is the biggest difference!

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

That's when the move went from The Netherlands with its 18 million inhabitants to the small village of Kallön outside Arjeplog. A contrast called duga.

Martin received a vicariat as a cleaning worker at Arjeplog Municipality, and when it ended, he worked for a season of bookings in the car testing business in the region. When Martin later sought a service as a reindeer, he was lucky on his side and got a fixed service this time.

Martin thrives very well with his job, not least with the working hours and the quiet pace. During the bare season, he drives slam car, and during the winter there will be a lot of work at the recycling centre.

"It’s an independent job, I am my own boss. I think it’s fun to drive a truck around the municipality with the nice nature outside. I meet a lot of people and have nice colleagues and an equally pleasant boss," says Martin, who has now been upgraded to the coordinator of the sludge drive in the municipality.

Big contrasts

Martin's wife Jessica works within the home service, and the couple thrives very well in the small village of Kallön, which is about half an hour by car from Arjeplog’s society. The house purchased through a broker that they had contacted through the municipality’s influential pilots.

From the Netherlands with its 18 million inhabitants, the contrast is large against small Arjeplog, which has more than 2600 inhabitants throughout the municipality. The couple never really felt at home in the Netherlands, and were drawn to the quiet country in the north, where Martin’s wife had previously worked in periods.

"We went to Sweden on holiday, drove around with our camper and talked to people. We felt most at home in northern Sweden, for the sake of beautiful nature, but also because here are smaller people, and that people are so pleasant.

In the same vein that they decided to move to Sweden, they met a representative from the project Eures at a large immigrant fair. She invited them to Luleå and told them about Arjeplog, who had both jobs and the tranquility that the couple sought. Once in Arjeplog, they got in touch with an influential pilot who connected them with a broker.

Once we bought the house, it took only six months until we moved in. So it went quickly. But before that, we had gone through a 5-6-year process where we learned the basics of the Swedish language via an online course at Folkuniversitetet. I learned by listening to colleagues at work and daring to talk. My wife is better than me in Swedish, but she has also gone to SFI.

Fixes at the house

In the small village of Kallön there are three permanent households, the rest are holiday homes filled with people both summer and winter. In leisure, the couple van den Berge usually fix the house, stroll, go out with the boat on the lake and maybe pull up a fish or take a trip with the camper.

"The biggest difference between living in the Netherlands is the amount of people," Martin said.
"On the same surface as Arjeplog there are 9 million people living in the Netherlands. That is a big difference!

Martin can really recommend other people who go to Sweden to go to Arjeplog. The municipality needs special care and care staff, but the inland region is also ideal for running companies, especially in the tourism industry.

"And if you just want to come here as a tourist, there are both camping and nice setup places for the camper," Martin says.

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