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....

An update on the family sponsorship

We don't give updates on this project often, simply because we need to protect the family's privacy. There will always be elements of this project we choose to not write about because of this. Also - the project is fully funded by Cathrine and her family. The project is nevertheless an important part of our work, and now we think a general update is called for.

One issue we are working on at the moment is the family's ownership of six acres of land not far from their current home (their current home is provided for them by the government). This land comes from the father's side of the family, but the family has not had access to the land for several reasons. This situation has lasted for quite some time now (before our involvement in the family). We are currently looking into applying to the municipality to get this matter sorted, but it is a delicate situation that must be handled with care - so this will take time to solve. Still; access to this land is important for the family's future and as this is rightfully theirs, it should be available to them.

Early on we found work for the oldest son, but he had to turn it down since he was illiterate. We were hoping to change this, but his progress is slow and he is often not motivated for literacy class. Our cooperation with him has been a bit difficult for several reasons, but it is important that we listen to what he wants for himself. He wants to work, and to get married, so we will yet again try to find him a job in the area even if he is not really literate yet (he has tried to find work by himself without much success). He will still have the opportunity to come to literacy classes if we wants to. Getting married is of course not a good idea for him, but these kinds of life choices must be his own. We can just hope that he waits a bit longer before finding a wife, given his situation. Finding work for him is a challenge though. After all - being unemployed is more common than being employed where he lives. But we don't give up that easily!

The eldest daugther still attends sewing school,  but we are a bit worried that the quality of her classes isn't good enough after they changed the teacher. She will get extra tuition from Vijay's aunt to make sure she learns what she needs, and she will also be given the opportunity to particiate in the cloth bag project from now on. Her education is part of our plan to give the family an income, together with the sewing machine she got from us back in February.

Several of the children in the family are doing great in school/literacy class, and if this continues there is a chance for some of them to continue to 9th grade/go back to school from July 2018. One of the boys is particulary good at his studies. He participates in our classes in Tikri, but also attends English classes at the Different School. During the day he also studies on his own. There might be a whole different path for him in the future and we will be happy to support him through it all.

There has been some health issues with the children during the summer, but this has been dealt with. Now we are worried about the general health of the mother. We have tried to convince her to go to the doctor's for a check-up for some time, and she has finally agreed (but has to help her brother with the harvest first....). Anyway - this has made us look into health insuranse for the family, as there are some schemes available for BPL-families in India (BPL=Below Poverty Line).

There are also some practical issues with their living conditions we have to tend to - and we will over time. All in all we are happy with the development in this project. The goal is for the family to be able to support themselves - and to give the children an education. This takes time of course, but we see things moving in the right direction.

Literacy classes has started again

Our literacy class has started again after the break, three weeks early. Our teacher, Ravi, has the opportunity to stay in Delhi for his German studies for a few more months, and of course we support him in this decition. His brother Vijay, has agreed to continue to teach in his absence, and as the students were impatient for the class to start again, there was no reason to wait until October. As far as we know, Ravi plans to come back to us from December/January.

The class started on september 11th, but shortly after Vijay got sick and had to take time off to recover. He is now back on his feet and the classes have began again. The classes are still held in front of/inside the house of Aryan's* family and we are grateful that the family allows us to hold the class at their place for now. Most of the children in the family participate in class, so this makes attendence more easy for them too.

We have added two more classes to our literacy project, but as it turns out Vijay gives not six but eight classes a week! We really appriciate his dedication! The classes are held in the morning or late afternoon and he teaches four classes in Hindi and four in English. He has devided the class in two; one group for the more advanced students with good motivation and work ethic, and one class for the ones who struggle more and needs more of his time during class. We are told that some of the students are getting quite good, and some of them might even be good candidates for 9th grade from July 2018. We are especially happy to hear that this includes at least one boy who stopped after grade 8 a couple of years back. This has been one of our goals for the literacy project. We are also told that most of the students have made progress, but of course some of them need more time than others to learn.

We are also happy to hear that Kat, who works as a volunteer for Friends in Khajuraho Association, has joined Vijay in Tikri this past week. She likes to sit in Hindi class to learn the hindi alphabet, and she also teaches English together with Vijay. This must be very exciting for our students, and they also get the best English class possible! Teaching in Tikri is not one of her assignments, but she is more than welcome to be part of our literacy project as long as she wants to!

Vice President Linn

Linn is Ganpati Norway's Vice President. She is from Trøndelag, but moved to Oslo in 2007. She has a master in Counseling Pedagogy and works for The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration. She often works abroad during the summer season, working for Norwegian embassies around the world. She is currently stationed in Beirut, and will return to Oslo in December.

Linn loves to travel, and has been on many trips around the world. Most of her longest trips have been to Asia, but she has also traveled to other parts of the world. She has traveled around India on three occations, and on one of these trips she worked as a volunteer for a womens project in Vadodara (Gujarat) for three months. Linn has visited Khajuraho once, but that was on her first trip to India back in 2000, so it is about time she revisits! At the end of this entry you can see some pictures from her last trip to India (with Cathrine in 2009).

Linn is also a talented chef and cooking is one of her hobbies. To be invited for dinner at her place is always exciting and she serves up the most delicious dishes from a wide range of cultures. Linn is also one of the founders of Ganpati Norway and we are looking forwards to have her a bit closer to us and more active in the organisation from December (and not just because we miss having dinner at her place!).

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

The best part is that our donors always know what we use their money on, and who benefits from their support. The fact that we support both education and small scale projects in a village will contribute to development in the village as a whole, not just individuals. We support basic education and support underprivileged women in a sustainable way.  Hopefully, our contribution means more families have the opportunity to support themselves sufficiently in the future.

It is nice for me personally to contribute in an area of the world I know very well.  I hope to travel to Tikri/Khajuraho soon, and to meet our partners in Friends in Khajuraho Association, see our projects up close and meet children, young adults and women who are participating in our projects in the area.

Cloth bag project started this week

Ganpati Norway has supported the launch of the project and this week the work began in Khajuraho. This is a project run by Friends in Khajuraho Association with support from us. So far we have agreed to support the project with two sewing machines, some additional equipment and salary for the trainer for the rest of this year.

Through this project, underprivileged women get training, acess to sewing machines and materials to make cloth bags without costs (and maybe they'll make other products too later on). The bags are then sold to local shops as a replacement for plastic bags, now forbidden in Khajuraho. The income from the sales goes directly to the women in the project. The trainer is paid seperately so the participants gets all of the income from their products. The trainer, Anushka* is also a woman in a difficult situation, as her husband is an alcoholic. The project only accepts underprivileged women or women with family problems, as these women need to be empowered the most. The project leader is currently Kat from England, a volunteer working for Friends in Khajuraho Association. The project has it own space in the same builing as The Different School, but the women also have the opportunity to work from home.

Read more about this project on the projects webpage and blog. If you want to make a donation (monetary or materials/equipment), contact Friends in Khajuraho Association or us. You can also find information on how to donate directly to this project on this site.

*Names have been changed to protect their identity