Tina Birbili, alone in Nairobi: “I can't get by with $ 141,000”

Tina Birbili from a simple associate of the Foreign Ministry became Minister of Environment starring at the political forefront, after working out along with George Papandreou. And when her own story, as all stories, came to an end, she found the lost shoe like another Cinderella somewhere between Champs Elyssées and Victor Hugo. There, in the glamorous Paris on the 4th floor of an impressive six-storey neoclassical building built in 1891 which hosts the lucky representatives of Greece to the OECD with a net salary of 7,500 euros.

But this is not the end. And how it can be, since her star still shines and along with a bit of luck and of course with the support of many friends she made during the ministerial tenure she found herself in the exotic Nairobi, with a salary of $ 141,227 working for the United Nations in Nairobi. 

The offices are located in a vast area resembling a large village surrounded by trees with facilities that one cannot find in the rest of Africa.

“You basically live in a dream, a bubble, which has nothing to do with the actual reality” Mrs Birbili said during the conversation with “THEMA” newspaper. The former Minister of Environment has rented a large house in the area of ​​Hill View Estate, where the rent rate starts at 2,500 euros per month and goes up depending on the size and the luxuries offered by each house. In this area the wealthy Indians who do business in Kenya live, so the rent rates are very high.

Each owner, explains Mrs. Birbili, is obligated to pay for security staff since the rate of crime in the capital of Kenya is extremely high. It is no coincidence that the global travel guide “Lonely Planet” calls the city “Nairobbery”, recommending travelers to be careful during their visit. 

The former minister traveled to Kenya being, as she says, aware of what she would encounter. “When you come here and know that you will not live the way people lived in Europe you accept a few things before you take the airplane, provided that you love your job. Then you deal with it. I work from 7 am until 8 pm and I have one to two trips pert month”, adding that “the high wage received was not what convinced her to go to Africa”.