The Way Up To Kiruna
Gregor Kallina: How did it all begin here in Kiruna for your family?
Dan Lundström: There were two brothers who decided to move up north to this area, near Långforsselet. I think they were Wallons from Belgium. Look at my small finger, it is typical for people from Wallonia. My grandfather on my mother´s side was born there. My parents lived in a village called Gyljen in Överkalix municipality and there I was born. This place is about 240 km south of Kiruna. I was working in the post office in my small village when i was still a teenager before I went to Africa and Asia together with a friend to work as journalists. After that I joined the military service as a parachute soldier and that's when I got here because the winter education took place in Kiruna. I met a girl and married her and so i am still here. I was a trainer in icehockey for young boys for 8 years among other things before i started my work at Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården.
If you were not born originally in Kiruna, when did you go there the first time? What was the reason to go there?
The first time when i went Kiruna was when I was 12 or 13 years old to play icehockey with the Överkalix hockey team.
A New Home
Do you feel at home in Kiruna? What does “home” mean to you?
I felt at home in Kiruna after I met Monica and she made me get to know her family. We had many common interests. I started to involve myself into non-profit organizations, both in the cultural and sports area as well as political work. By doing this i met a lot of friends and I felt that Kiruna had accepted me and this made me feel to be at home. Home to me is when I can get involved in the dialogue that takes place within different parts of the society. My other home is in Gyljen, in the house I was born and lived in for the first 17 years. This house belonged to my mothers parents and 1988 me and my wife took over the house from them.
What are the three places in Kiruna which you like most or which have a very special significance for you?
The first place is the area that I have lived in my hole life in Kiruna – LKAB´s company area. I got employed by LKAB as a truck-driver and then I joined the fire department in LKAB. We got a nice and modern apartment on Gruvfogdegatan (the blue house 4A). Monica and I, we moved to LKAB´s company area in 1974 when we had got our first child. Since then we have moved only two times within 500 metres. Today our children have both moved to Stockholm, but we still live in the same area, on the other side of Hjalmar Lundbohms road, perhaps 800 metres from the place we lived before. The second place is Hjalmar Lundbohm homestead, where I worked for more than 10 years. The third place is Kiruna church where I married my wife. We almost did not get married as we had come too late to the church for more than one hour, but fortunately the priest was waiting for us.
The City Transformation
How do you see the city transformation project? Is it something positive or negative? Will your area be affected? Do you trust in the community in creating a new identity for all inhabitants?
The city tranformation project was in beginning very negative to me, but I have changed my mind and today I see a lot of possibilities. I have started a company for guiding tourists and organizations that come to Kiruna. The company name is Kiruna Storytelling Ltd. With this company I want to get a role in the process so that the population get involved and that we can start a dialogue about the future of Kiruna.