To be absolutely fuming about contributing to buying a car?

[VettiyaIruken]

Fuming doesn't cover it!

Last night my husband was talking to one of his friends. A small group of people he was at school with are fundraising for the village church / reverend to get him a car so he can "better serve the community".

Fine, don't have a problem with that, always willing to contribute to things like that. It's just how things are. You pitch in.

Except.

This car will be 2,000,000 (around £13,000!!!)

I am livid. That is taking the absolute piss. Most of the people who still live in the area have sweet fa and they are giving the few coins they have to get the church a frigging thirteen grand car!

You can "serve the community" in a 2 or 3 grand car just as well. A 13,000 car is taking the piss.

I know that I don't have a choice, I get that. But this to me is just outrageous. My husband is all yes but what can you do? We have to contribute.

To be clear - not contributing is not an option, this is just how it is. I feel really angry and like this is yet another example of how churches take the absolute piss. He's going to be swanning around in his 2,000,000 car visiting people in the village who have next to nothing but helped him get that bloody obscenity.

I really object to participating in this. It's morally wrong imo.

This is not taking place in the UK, hence the currency conversion.

We have family in Kenya and their housekeeper, who is on a good wage, let slip that she was struggling with making ends meet because the pastor for her church was pressuring her for money. He drives a brand new white Merc, as does his wife and other members of his family while the parishioners are struggling and yet still tithing. The whole prosperity gospel stuff is absolute daylight robbery and exploitation, as unchristian as you can get, and should be illegal in my opinion. My aunt offered to ring him up and warn him off, but her housekeeper was too much in thrall to this pastor and said he deserved it, he was a man of god, didn't want to upset her community in the congregation etc etc. Really sad.

In that case my first post stands you actually cannot get a fancy car for 2 million ksh that is just how much cars cost there. Might be mind blowing to some but do a quick google for a Kenyan car sales sights 2 million will buy you a 7 year old car. Nothing to do with the church being corrupt tax on cars is insanely high and you cannot import older cars as a result they retain their value way more than in the UK. This seems like a misunderstanding of the country and cost of living on your part rather than a greedy vicar

Should add I don't like the churches here and i'm sure they do pressure those who cannot afford with shady tactics but if we are just talking about the car that is not an unreasonable amount to raise

I’m not condoning the stranglehold the church has, or the way it leaves the door open for abuses but is there a chabce the car will be used for the good of the community. I knew of a similar situation where the minister used the car to drive to the clinic, pick up things from far away etc. Still a grey area but it could be described as a community service.

He doesn't need a fancy car though. My husband's car in Kenya cost not even half of that and it's perfectly adequate. Many family members have cars that run fine and didn't cost anything like that. It is perfectly possible to get a car for far less because we've got cars for less! We've got one sitting at my bils house!

When you are expecting people who have very little to club together for your rather wealthy church you should be modest in your request! My mil is in her 90s, she has a house in a small compound and of course we all club together for her bills and househelp and it maddens me that she'll be giving money she can't afford to give to an organisation that can well afford to buy its own bloody car!

It absolutely stinks. You know, the more I think about it the more I think I'm not so much mad about the car as I am about the exploitation.

Unsuremover - we can only hope.

Corruption - hideous! I'd move away - not sure where to though

Nothing will change if everyone keeps quiet. I would voice my opinion tbh . You will find you won’t be alone.

I don’t know your position, I know only certain people are generally allowed opinions but it might be worth pushing that. The minister I know makes bulk orders of things so everyone can benefit of reduced prices etc. The more the car is on the road for the community the more worth the money everyone has put into it.

@ConsuelaHammock

Nothing will change if everyone keeps quiet. I would voice my opinion tbh . You will find you won’t be alone.

She might find herself very alone I think OP knows best when she says what would happen if she objected. It’s easy for us to tell her what to do but we won’t face the fall out

@Markies

Husband has a colleague from a very similar culture. The church funded his education at a prestigious UK university so it’s now expected that a chunk of his salary is paid to the church/village every month. He’s also contacted when XYZ needs repaired and is expected to contribute if not pay. Not saying it’s the same thing but sounds quite similar - church is the heart of everything.

In addition to this, my husbands colleague was on a grad entry job so he wasn’t on the best salary. He actually came to husband on a few occasions to see if he would loan him money as he was having to send too much home every month - needless to say he didn’t.