“Every day, someone says welcome to Malaysia to me”

The 24-year old Finnish photojournalist intern, Veera Pitkanen, is the only blond in a workplace with 300 employees. Yet, it does not bother her one bit. It is all part of the Malaysia experience for her.

By Anya Palm

She draws attention, everywhere she goes. Especially, because the blond, blue eyed Finnish girl insists on avoiding the tourist track and actively seeks out the Malay hangout spots. Because she lives here. This is her home for the past six months and the people who constantly comment on her appearance are the same kind of people, she live with, hang out with and work with.

Veera Pitkanen, 24, left her home town, Joensuu in Finland, to take a photojournalist internship at the NAM News network, an international news portal based in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur and part of Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama. Here, she gets the opportunity to work with and publish photos that can be viewed in 180 countries.

- I always worked for little local papers, so suddenly catering to 180 countries were for me a big challenge. But I feel, I am quite good at adapting to new environments, so it is going well, she says, sitting in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre food court after having ordered a salmon teppanyaki at a stall, where the staff obviously knew her face.

Likes to live like a local

She makes a point out of meeting the Malaysians. The expatriate society and the embassy arrangements rarely attract her attention.

- I have made a lot of local friends, because it is so easy to just hang out with Europeans, but you can do that at home. Here, I want to talk to the people and I want to take this opportunity to get to know the culture, she says.

This is also why she decided to learn the Malay language.

- That is one of the best decisions, I have made here. I can have a good conversation and people really appreciate it when you speak their language, she explains and continues:
- This experience has taught me a lot. Malaysia is so multicultural, but in a different way. Everyone here has their own history and their own heritage. That is something really unique about Malaysia.

Particularly the exposure to Islam is different, she feels. Coming here from Finland, she did not know much about the religion, because even though it is one of the biggest world religions, she didn’t get exposed to Islam at all at home.

- Here, it is right in your face, and all the time. When you stay overnight with friends and they wake up really early to pray - it is inspiring, things like that, she says.

About the photos

Inspiration is a key word for the girl with the camera. Her main goal in Malaysia is to capture the colors and cultures of the country and take home amazing photos. Her next mission is to travel Sarawak to meet some of the tribes in the island province.

For three weeks, she is focusing on the indigenous body art in the Berawan community in Sarawak.

- It is quite interesting, because people have not been doing much research on these people, but they have their own tattoo tradition. But these traditions are vanishing all the time, because the young people does not want to be tattooed in the traditional manner, they would rather move to the city, she says.

She has three weeks to complete a photo essay – her photos and 1000 words – about the tribal tattoos in Sarawak.

- I am really excited about this project, because I got to decide the topic and I get to experience the traditional life style and all these things. I feel really privileged.

This is the next phase of her internship, where her everyday work is finding and polishing pictures to news stories posted on the NAM website.

Will stay in Malaysia

Originally, Veera Pitkanen was scheduled to leave in April. But after having postponed the departure for three more months, today, she is not even sure when she will be leaving.

Possibly, when she starts on her masters in January 2010.

- The next thing I want to do it travel Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. But right now, the plans are not very detailed, firstly, I am going to Sarawak, she says. She lays down her chop sticks collected together in one side of her plate upon finishing up her meal.

- Of course, I miss Finland. I miss my family and my friends and occasionally the food products. And I miss the summer festivals, especially the Joensuu festival. But it is all going to come.

A part of her wanting to stay is her experience that things get easier, the more you know about them.

- I remember in the beginning, I spend three hours each way going to work, because I lived so far out of the city and the communal transportation was so confusing. I have a lot of experiences like that, where I have gotten more comfortable living here, she says.

Her hair and bright blue eyes, however, is the one thing that does not change – and does not get less obvious.

- I do receive quite a lot of attention. It is good and bad, but mostly good. Every day, someone says “Welcome to Malaysia!” to me. And then you feel quite welcome.