Conversation with a taxi driver

I had (more or less) this conversation with a taxi driver a few days ago and keep thinking about it.

He picked me up, and after a few minutes of driving in silence he started speaking slowly:
"You have to be careful with this job, you never know who you are picking up and you might end up robbed or even get your car stolen".
He saw my interest and continued. "It happened to me. It was around midnight, when this man i was carrying removed the radio and took my key and ran off. I pulled on the handbrake and shouted Thief! Thief! But it was raining and no one came".
"So what did you do?" I asked him
"I removed the battery, so that if he came back he couldn't take my car. And I passed the night watching over my car on a veranda nearby, but luckily the thief didn't show up again".

I was thinking of how his car was his life, when I saw a horrible white rash behind his neck.
Hoping I didn't see properly, I said "You have something on the back of your neck".
"I know" he replied "They say it's a bad disease and if it surrounds the whole body it can shorten life. I am taking this medicine." And showed me a package. "They say this can cure it. And I am praying for this not to take my life away, because I have a five years old son, and he's not a man yet".
"Did you go to hospital?" i asked him
"No" He replied "There is no money. Hospital costs 150.000 at least"

As most of Ghanaians he was talking in the old currency. Little less then 15 dollars.

At that point we were at the ministries. I gave him the equivalent of 5 dollars, instead of the contracted 2, and told him to take care of himself. I would have given him the 15 dollars straightaway, but i was afraid to offend him.

The image above was left me by my predecessor on the computer I inherited from her.