Meet our CEO, Cathrine

Cathrine grew up in Våler in Solør, but moved to Trondheim in 1995 where she met Linn a few years later. Cathrine has lived in Oslo since 2006 and has two small children with her boyfriend Espen.  Cathrine has a master’s degree in political science, but also has education in social work, management and economics. She has work experience in many different fields as she has worked as for example a trumpet teacher, as a therapist for teenagers with drug- and behavior problems, a cleaning manager at a big supermarket and as an adviser for Statistics Norway. Since 2012 she has been working as a special adviser for the Division of Analysis for Akershus County. Cathrine has travelled a lot and used to be an active trumpet player. Having two small children, her life as a backpacker and musician is put on hold for now. Cathrine has many years’ experience with board work for organizations and is currently in two boards in addition to Ganpati.

Cathrine loves to travel and has been backpacking in Africa, Asia and Central America on many occasions, both on her own and together with friends and her boyfriend. She has travelled in India four times, which is far too few according to her! Cathrine has been to Khajuraho three times and visited Tikri twice. Her friendship with Aryan*, a poor cyclerickshawman she met in 2003, is the base of Ganpati Norway. At the end of this entry, you can see pictures from some of her travels in India.



What is the best part of Ganpati Norway and the work you do?



It is very rewarding to me personally. Ever since I met Aryan back in 2003, I have had this dream about doing something for the children in Tikri. Every time I visited Khajuraho and talked to Aryan and his family and neighbors, they told me stories of how bad the village school was and how they worried about their kids not learning to read and write properly. Ganpati Norway gives me an opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for so long. Moreover, I get to learn new things, like how to make a webpage! Learning new things is always fun! 


Because the difference in salaries and costs between India and Norway, we can actually achieve a lot without it costing too much. It puts everything in perspective. We are a small organization and can show ours donors exactly how we spend the money they give us - and what the impact is to whom. We can also be flexible and easily adjust when needed.  All the money we get is spent locally, and we never pay any form of compensation to people in Norway. That is unique! 


We cannot "save the world", but everybody CAN make a world of difference for someone, one-way or the other. This is something I hope to teach my children. My kids are young (2,5 and 4 years old), but we already look at pictures from Ganpati's projects with them, and talk to them about what we do. 


I am really looking forward to go back to India with my mum (Torlaug) and Linn. It will be nice to visit Aryan's* family again in Tikri and see the literacy classes and talk to the students. Meeting up with Vio, Vijay and Ravi and have time to sit down with them and discuss the future of our projects will also be very exciting! The Cloth Bag Project has just started and has so much potential, and it will be interesting to see how far the project has gotten when we arrive in Khajuraho. And of course we will bring clothes for distribution (and materials for the cloth bag project too). This time, my trip to India will have a different purpose, but I still look forward to just being there again.



To me, India is a world of extreme opposites. Choose "any" adjective, and I can tell you a story that fits; India can be amazingly friendly but also hostile - it is unbelievable beautiful but also repulsive - very safe but also incredible scary - noisy and quiet - unimaginable strange but also very familiar- complete chaos but still in order - full of joy and laughter but also so sad it will break your heart. It is not possible to be indifferent to the experience of travelling across the country. India has changed a lot in many ways since my first visit, but this has not. I love it! However, it will be interesting to see how my mum reacts to it all....