The “dioxide reporter”

Nguyen Son Lam has been nicknamed “dioxide reporter”, by his colleagues. Despite being serious disadvantaged, he has done his best to develop his passion for football as a sports reporter.

During these days, although Lam is fully occupied with writing about the World Cup, he still spent sometime with us talking about his life.

On wooden crutches,

It’s not easy to get to Lam’s house at the end of Thai Thinh alley in Hanoi as the road runs narrow in a series of zigzags.

Now is 28 years old, Lam is just 80 cm tall and weighs and 25 kg, He said his father had been poisoned by dioxide during the US war in Vietnam. He told us he currently works for the Vietnamnet online newspaper as a sports reporter.

In his 20m2 room, there are three colourful balls, the match schedules of famous championships like the Premier League in England, Series A in Italy and the Primera Liga in Spain, photos of football legends, and posters of his favourite clubs.

To start with, we asked him about football reporting, Lam said even though he could never play football as other people, it did not prevent him from becoming a professional sports reporter for a reputable newspaper.

Lam is now busy writing a 200-page book entitled “the world’s famous football clubs” which is scheduled to be finished in a month and come out in September.

An iron will…

Born in Uong Bi City in Quang Ninh province, Lam is not as fortunate as other children. He suffers from osteomalacia, while one of his three brothers has meningitis. When seeing his disabled children, his father sometimes withdraws into himself and the entire burden is placed on his mother.

Lam is also worried about this. However, his love for football has helped him overcome his depression. During childhood he often played football in his wooden crutches with the neighbouring kids and regularly went to school with them where he had the chance to excel himself.

Lam’s determination became stronger when his father died in 1996. He thought that the only way to have a better life was to study.

Lam said he had been very disappointed about his failure at the first university examination but still decided to continue with his dream. He later succeeded in becoming a student at the Hanoi University of Foreign Studies.

… and a great passion

Proficient in English, French, and Japanese, Lam received job offers from many translation companies. But with his passion for sports he finally decided to work for the Vietnamnet online newspaper.

Because of the difference in the time zone between Vietnam and Europe, he usually has to work at night to report on the football matches. Right after getting home, he continues to translate some of the latest news for the next day.

One of his idols is a disabled Japanese named Otokate who has become an outstanding sports reporter despite losing all four limbs.

When we were saying goodbye, Lam said that although he is given some privileges, he does not want to rely too much on others.

“I want to work hard to support myself and also to show my deep gratitude to those who have helped me over the long years,” he said.

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