Terese Fredenwall

Terese Fredenwall has released five solo albums, written music for Jenny Berggren and Danny Saucedo, and participated in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest. But success has never been her measure of happiness, but meaning.
- "For me, it's all about the encounter. That my stories come to life in the meeting with someone else, a meeting where I am touched and where someone else is touched. Where we can get behind the facades, put into words feelings that are very difficult and where we can unite in the feeling of not being alone.

When Terese Fredenwall began her collaboration with Erikshjälpen in 2020, it was with a clear desire to use her music to be a voice for those who are rarely heard. Above all, she is passionate about Erikshjälpen's work for children's right to safety and protection, which includes work against human trafficking, violence and sexual exploitation.
- "Through music, you can mobilize and bring people together, evoke empathy and create a closeness that makes it easier to get involved in stories that can otherwise feel very far away from your own reality. I believe this will be one of my most important tasks as an ambassador for Erikshjälpen.

One such story for Terese is that of "Evelyn".
- It really is. Some people immediately move into your heart and Evelyn is one of them.

"Evelyn", the girl whose real name is something else, and who has her own song named after her, met Terese when she visited a rehabilitation center for street children in Kenya run by Erikshjälpen's partner organization. Evelyn was only ten years old but already inhumanely scarred by life. The song describes how she was abused by her mother, sexually assaulted by the various men who passed through the home, and how she was ultimately the one who had to care for her mother when she fell ill and died of AIDS.
- I often think of Evelyn and wonder how she is doing. Her greatest dream was to be a singer. So it's great to be able to share the stage with her in a way and to give her story a voice to others.

Author: Patricia Franzén