SOCIAL REALISM PART 3: JON ARVE

Jon Arve sells the street magazine =Oslo, and he has been selling it since the project started in Oslo. For a long time he has waited for the registration number 333 to be available, and now he has reregistered with that number. 3 is a lucky number, so now he has triple luck, he laughted with a big smile.

He was happy that I stopped, since few people buy when it is raining. He seemed to be a very gentle person. He started with drugs when he was 12 and with heroine when he was 21. Now he is 42, and he feels that he has wasted most of his life. He got treatment with methadone for 5 years, and then he managed his life better. Now he is on heroine again since he has no offer of treatment. The health department thinks he is too old, that means over 40.

He has recently been seriously ill and hospitalized for 3 months. I asked what his thoughts are with no treatment, and still addicted. With a gentle smile he answered that he had no change to manage by himself to stop taking heroine, but he take less since he is selling the magazine, and he is more aware of how to keep healthy in other ways.

I'm so grateful that he let me as a stranger take a photo and even sharing his story. And I'm so proud that our city (like other cities) has =Oslo. The magazine has been winning prizes for its excellent journalism and photos. It is a pleasure to buy, and a pleasure to get to know some of the sellers. So thank you, Jon Arve!


Another seller:
Social realism part 2 Svein