Souliyo Sengngnam: Learning for better communication
At 43, Souliyo Sengngnam, alias Joe, a Laotian journalist, is still just as keen to learn, particularly about the "One Health" approach. Learn so that you can share your knowledge concerning your media and with the general public.
Lush vegetation, peaceful surroundings. "When I was a child, there were forests around our village of Phakhao. Today, with development and urbanization, it is difficult to find enough to eat and the capital Vientiane has encroached upon us...", commented Souliyo Sengngnam, a 43-year-old Laotian journalist.
Vilaphan, his very close cousin (their houses were almost next door to each other), remembers: "Souliyo played football and loved animals. He talked to anyone.” Souliyo expands on this: "It's true, I liked doing sport and watching wildlife documentaries, but I was mainly interested in learning maths and I didn't talk much at the time...". After a short silence, he continued, laughing: "This is still very much the case today!”
Nicknamed 'Joe' by his Anglophile father, Souliyo has managed to overcome his shy nature and gradually open up to others. He was also inspired by a cousin who worked as a cameraman for a national broadcaster: "Journalism didn't exist at university back then. I had to find an opportunity..." In 2005, he graduated in English: "This language is very important for communicating with others. And, as a journalist, it provides access to documents that do not exist in Laotian. But I still need to learn", Joe says modestly.
"Creating a sustainable world”
In 2007, Souliyo Sengngnam joined “Vientiane Mai“ ("New Vientiane"). For this pro-government generalist newspaper and its weekly supplement, he has since, according to his calculations as an eternal maths enthusiast, written more than 6,000 reports and long-form articles in the print version and more than 5,000 content pieces for the website and social networks.
Now in charge of the digital version, Joe plans the stories and manages the three journalists in his team. "When he comes up against an obstacle, he lets his superiors and colleagues know so that together we can find a solution. He loves sharing his knowledge and will support us in helping our readers understand how to protect themselves from animal diseases, the laws to conserve nature, climate change and so on," says Phetsamone Beukbandy, his colleague of 14 years.
After taking part in a workshop on the "One Health" approach* in Vientiane in September 2024 as part of the CFI Media for One Health project, Souliyo is aware of his responsibility to the public: "Good human health, good animal health and a healthy environment are essential for creating a sustainable world, but before this training course, I was not familiar with this concept, and neither were the other Laotian journalists... I'm only at the beginning of my apprenticeship!”
At the age of 43, Souliyo Sengngnam is as curious as ever to learn and then share his knowledge.
Portrait by Emmanuel de Solère Stintzy (Journalistes Médiateurs)
* The “One Health” approach invites us to think differently about health, recognising the interdependence of the wellbeing of humans, animals and the ecosystems they share on our one planet. It uses the close and interdependent connections between these three facets to develop new methods for monitoring and preventing disease (source: World Health Organisation).