Morten performed three songs together with Kjetil Bjerkestrand last night, at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Marita Foundation held at the Salem Church in Oslo.
The Marita Foundation, started in 1984, is a Christian foundation that aims to prevent drug use among young people and to help recovering addicts build a new life for themselves. Morten has been supporting the foundation since the mid-90s, and contributed a special version of “A Kind Of Christmas Card” for the documentary film Marita – En advarsel fra noen som overlevde in 1996.
Morten spoke to the audience about how much he admires the work done by the foundation and its leader, Leiv Holstad, who was given The King’s Medal of Merit at the event last night:
“You’ve done an impressive amount of work, Leiv, for which you’ve been honoured by the King tonight – about time you were, in my opinion. You’d be the first to say that it’s not just you, there are so many people working together with you, of course. The rest of us are priveleged to be able to lend our support, and we are proud of the work you are doing.”
Morten also talked about how anyone can end up in addiction, but that it’s possible to break away from it with the help of people like Leiv Holstad and the Marita Foundation:
“The force of habit is a powerful thing. And breaking free from a negative downward spiral is about understanding the force of habit, and realizing that you always have the choice to break free and climb upwards instead. It’s a very fragile balance. For me as well. I’m standing here on stage and have been doing this for 30 years, but it’s not easy. People tend to look at me as this rock-solid guy who works hard and just keeps going – and that’s true on some level – but I could easily have ended up in a bad place at any time.”
Some video clips from last night’s event have been posted on YouTube by Lena:
A Kind Of Christmas Card Morten speaks
There Is A Place A Change Is Gonna Come
Vårt Land article: Hedret Holstad
Pictures by Angelica Kjos on Instagram: Picture 1 Picture 2
Instagram picture by Jofrid Landa
Instagram picture by Audun Rensel