Who is CS? Pt. 5: Nicolas Glaser
When thinking of locations for integral members of Christian Surfers, you’re likely to think of typical surf havens like Australia, France, Hawaii, Costa Rica and Brazil. Somewhere further down the list you may start to think of less likely countries with colder climates like those of Norway and Chile, however it’s unlikely a country like Switzerland is even going to make the imaginary cut in your mind, yet that is precisely where we find our next featured legend of CS.
Nicolas Glaser is a surfer living in a land-locked country, something we wouldn’t wish upon anyone, however communities of surfers are not only growing in such places, they’re thriving. They may need to travel a little more than the average surfer, or surf unorthodox waves, like the stationary version found in rivers, but they are here to stay and Nicolas is proud to be a Swiss surfer.
To begin with, tell us a little bit about your history with CS Switzerland. I know many people have wondered how on earth you can have Christian Surfers in a landlocked country! How does that work?
I was among the founding members of CS Switzerland 9 years ago. Eric Zbären had initiated the association in Switzerland after he and his friends had been recognized as Christian Surfers at the Swiss Surfing Championships, before there was an official association in Switzerland.
Many Swiss world travellers have started surfing somewhere in the world and often take trips in Europe to surf a few times a year. Hossegor, France is about a 10h drive departing from Switzerland. There is a quite active surf scene here inlands, surfing on rivers as well, yet with CS, we had so far been mainly active on the ocean surfing side. Personally I join the CS team every year to serve at the Swiss Championships in Spain and a couple of times I had been staffing at a Surf Holiday Camp that we used to run with Athletes in Action.
How did you first become a surfer living so far from the ocean?
We were traveling Australia with the family when I was 20. Together with my two brothers, who are younger, we just rented a board and tried by ourself, thinking it might be as easy as snowboarding. Ok, we failed hard and then did a three-day course in West Oz. Afterwards we continued surfing wherever we came across a surfable beach, sharing one board for the three of us!
While Switzerland features a lot of church history, these days it is seemingly more agnostic that anything. How did you come to know Jesus in that culture?
After wandering teenage years I spent a summer in a language school in England that was run by Christians. The love of those people has reopened my heart to give God a second chance. A personal experience after a prayer of a friend has then led me to the conclusion, that God knows me personally and cares for me.
You and your wife Claudine had quite a journey last year. What prompted you to go?
Claudine and I were three years married. We thought we should break out of normal life that keeps us so busy in Switzerland. Before life gets even more hectic, maybe with kids etc., we wanted take time for us. We had both been to Africa before and really felt like we should go to the warm-hearted continent. When we searched the web for interesting places, projects and contacts, my only conditions was that it has to be close to the ocean. Claudine wanted to be able to visit Malawi and then have the possibility to work with a school.
Did you have a set plan for what you hoped to accomplish or were you just following the Lord’s leading?
Our primary goal was to take a time for us to strengthen our marriage. Nevertheless we couldn't picture ourselves to just travel for 9 months. We rather wanted to stay longer at one place and invest ourselves. Claudine is an educated teacher and wanted to use her skills. I am a research engineer and used to work in the lab. We were looking and praying to find a place where we could use our professional skills and where surfing with a local community would be possible. Only after we had chosen the organization to partner with in Madagascar a door had opened that led to the opportunity to ship down a bunch of materials before we went, which gave rise to a lot of project ideas. Claudine gathered school materials and we collected and bought surfboards to bring along. Besides that I started to dream that I could learn how to do solar installations and within a few weeks we crowdfunded for solar materials which we shipped down to Madagascar. So quite a few projects we laid out before we went off.
Madagascar is a country steeped in poverty, with many different social and economic challenges, how do you feel your time there benefited the local community?
This is a tough question. It seems like the longer the time lies behind us, I get more critical in assessing the impact of our time. Indeed, many people there are desperately poor. But what does it mean? They are poor in material belonging, but not poor in spirit! With all the material things that we brought we also introduced to some extent envy. Take for example the surfboards. I tried to form a small local group of surfers of guys that were helping me to run the surf classes with orphans that we did. They do continue to go surfing with the orphans up to now, which is great. But the ownership of the boards does lead to tensions every once in a while.
The solar projects were successful, and will give light to about 15 families and their school kids for some years, but I firmly believe, what really counts, is the time spent with the people. The time Claudine had with the kids and teachers that she worked with and the time with the surf buddies that I found. Especially with the orphan surf group that we initiated, I had the privilege to witness how some of these guys developed a new self-esteem in only a few months which was incredible.
Are you hopeful for the future for those in Fort Dauphin and Madagascar as a whole?
Yes I am. Fortunately, development and change will happen quite slowly in that isolated place. I see this as a positive, because everything else would be an overburden for the community. Of course we’d wish to see faster improvement, for example in the education system, this could especially help to protect the beautiful island from deforestation and foreign exploitation. And we must pray for sincere political leaders. Madagascar is difficult to govern and most people are completely disillusioned from their politicians and don’t care anymore after 3 or 4 presidents in a row that have exploited the country for their own interest.
As everywhere, development projects are difficult to be done without creating dependencies. What was inspiring to see is the work of the Catholic church. The humble service of the Malagasy nuns who have been there for decades really is a light in poverty-struck communities. They run several schools, care for the poor and glorify not themselves but the Lord. We have really gained a deep appreciation for the nuns!
How do you feel the time spent there has affected the two of you?
It’s definitely given us an enormous treasure of experience and story that we share forever with each other. That really bonds. We have also learned a lot about working or travelling in a “poor” country. We are extremely thankful for the up-front guidance of Vanessa and Rehgert van Zyl who had been teaching us on this topic and also for the wisdom of Yvette and Andre Holl who had visited us. This is where the Christian Surfers network played a powerful role and it was also one thing take a take home, a huge thankfulness to the international surfing community. We even met one Malagasy surfer in our little town that had received a Surfers Bible 10 years ago from a visiting surfer. How cool is that!!
What does the future hold for you? Do you have any plans to return to Madagascar or take any similar journeys elsewhere?
We will return very soon for a vacation to Fort Dauphin. There is great surf down there and I would also like to go back after to show the place to my mates. Going back long-term to start a business and work with the school is definitely somewhere in our heads. It’s not super realistic at the moment but at least it’s a dream and you never know.
And finally, what does Christian Surfers mean to you?
For me it’s a global network of friends who have encountered the love of Jesus and who are willing to serve the surfing community. The possibility of partnering and sharing community when you travel is monumental for us in land-locked Switzerland.
Read more about the Glaser’s time in Madagascar at www.glaserformadagascar.com (you can use Google Translate if you don’t happen to speak German).