Nicholai Lidow is an amazing person, who has lived a life that few have dared to discover. Born and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, Nicholai’s family traveled far and wide to show their children the beauty and realities of the world we all share. Conventional traveling has never been part of the Lidow family’s itinerary, since Nicholai can remember he has been trekking through Borneo to find head hunting colonies or traveling by camel across the Egyptian desert. When asked where he has visited, he laughs and says, “I’ve been around a bit- Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, South America, Africa, Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, West Africa, the Caribbean and most of the America’s.” Currently Nicholai is twenty-two years old, finishing up his graduate degree at Stanford University, studying conflict resolution- civil wars and rebel groups

Over the last few years of travels and schooling, Nicholai has found a passion in recording the people and places he works with. He has developed a holistic approach of using photography and writing to create some beautiful articles which encapsulate his adventures surfing untouched surf spots and simultaneously working within the war torn communities that surround him. In a recent interview with Nicholai, I tried my best to catch up with what he has been up to and what his plans are.

Nicholai responds- “Last summer I traveled through northeastern Sri Lanka doing research on how the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tiger rebels cooperate to run the schools in rebel territory. Before that, I lived with the Liberian refugees in West Africa to study the civil war in Cote d’lvoire and figure out how to create an early warning network in the refugee camps to prevent violence.

This summer I will be working on a three and a half month project in Eastern Congo, I’ll be conducting a household survey to figure out the people’s situation (income, health, access to social services, sanitation) after several years of war. Eastern Congo is the largest war zone since WW2- 4 million people have died in the last six years. Studying civil wars is suits my lifestyle well- 80% of civil war are in the tropics and most of them have a coastline, so when I do research I usually also surf some crazy places.”

As you can see Nicholai is moving along a driven path, because of his dedication to social justice we have developed the Collectic Column as a way of giving writers like Nicholai an uncensored voice which directly reaches the masses. Nicholai is planning on traveling and documenting for the Collectic column as well as other publications over the next year. He will be working his way through nomadic surf adventures and aid work in Africa, Indonesia and some undisclosed destinations. We wish Nicholai the best of luck in his adventures and research and are proud to be the home of his traveling journals, personal thoughts, photography and insight into the communities he will be working within.