They are waiting for Blume in the front room of the office. On the sofa sits a man whom Blume has never learned to like. He himself chose and appointed the man, for a job not insignificant from the point of view of the company. Blume has good reasons for the appointment. If he employed only men he liked, the business would have gone bankrupt years ago.
Juha Vakkuri (born 1946) is a writer and journalist who specialises in the study of Africa. His books includ novels, poetry and travel books. In 2000 Vakkuri founded the Finnish-African cultural centre Villa Karo in Benin, where he spends a third of the year.