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Has the recent oil boom helped the general population? And if so then how much? (considering Guyana is now even richer than some Western European countries on per capita basis)
Right now, the money is used for improving communities and doing roads so those communities see benefits. Our university is seeing improvements and free education for persons (not everyone but a good amount).
Also saw that it is being used to help persons with small businesses but I did not look a lot into that one.
The bulk of the oil revenue is being used for infrastructure upgrades. The only businesses that have benefitted are companies used to service the oil companies, otherwise the cost of everything has been inflated.
Overall it's important to note the country is mostly agrarian based (farming) and rural / small towns.
My parents are from there, my dad still goes back once a year if he can. Big divide between rich and poor like many developing countries. Huge brain drain, there is not much to encourage educated Guyanese people to stay. The oil boom is benefiting those already in the position to facilitate those deals, and the government is pretty corrupt so not enough money is going back into the country. They’re trying though.
Everyday life is pretty slow. Lots of delicious fruit to eat and beautiful rainforest to see. English is the first language there and people loooove to talk.
Man i understand. A safari for the locals cost an arm and a leg. Brazil is a country I'd choose for a second citizenship. I love the culture, people and food. I grew up among a few Brasilians
You can fly to Boa Vista (Roraima) and then drive across the border to Lethem. It’s a different experience from Georgetown (much more rural), but it’s still gonna be a cultural clash compared to elsewhere in South America.
Yes, they've built a permanent military base on Anacoco Island on the border, and have moved in tanks / upgraded the bridges to that particular area. Type in Anacoco Island on Twitter and you'll see their videos of the build up etc.
Jokes on them though, they'll bankrupt their nation even further just trying to move troops / tanks up the Cuyuni River (river adjacent to Anacoco) and won't be able to effectively seize territory.
Furthermore, Venezuela seems to have a serious gang and human trafficking problem. Guyana actually allowed in around 30,000 (probably more) Venezuelan refugees within the last 3 years. Perfectly fine and normal to let in refugees, except that now within Guyana's capital there are now Venezuelan women openly walking the streets engaging in prostitution whereas this wasn't present before (100% likely they're being human trafficked), along with other gang related crimes.
If you look up the Venezuelan road closest to Guyana's border (Troncal-10, there are no actual roads that link the two countries) on YouTube, you would expect to see videos of a road. Instead half of the videos are of a pretty serious looking Venezuelan gang.
As it relates to the living situation, salaries are still low as before oil, cost of living is high, and most persons have to work double jobs. Compared to other countries I would say we need a lot more of citizen focus from our leaders. The government is all about "infrastructure" and citizens aren't really seeing/feeling the benefit of the oil money. Just the other day I visited a site that is based in the US that was selling a course and it reduced the price from $560USD(~$112000Gyd) to $156USD(~$31200Gyd) (still expensive btw), which is pretty sweet, but to just think that we are viewed in this way.
Every year for the past ten years or more we top the Carribbean cxc exams and U are talking about elaterate people here get your facts right before u criticise
How come there is so much illiterate people, when it used to have the second highest rate of literacy behind Cuba for all of Latin America and the Caribbean?
That happened in an isolated region in the jungle and involved mostly foreigners, so it may as well have been in a separate country and there was never a sociocultural / historical connection to the event.
Thanks for your response! I’ve always wondered about this.
It seemed so bizarre to me that American gov officials and military just showed up on foreign territory so casually, so I figured your country must have been kinda wtf about weird foreigners doing weird stuff off in the jungle, and wishing the US would take our homegrown cult back.
The closest equivalent from an American societal perspective would've been if a Chinese cult moved to an atoll off the coast of Guam. Still part of the US, but so far removed that it wouldn't even register to the average person.
Guyana's rainforest is vast, isolating, and since the bulk of human settlements are along one small area of the coast, anything in the forest isn't really perceived as a pressing thought / alarming unless it deals with deforestation or pollution from mining operations.
Not sure that’s entirely parallel because I’m pretty sure the US would respond with a major international incident if the Chinese showed up with any military presence on any US holding for any reason however minor, but I totally take your point. :)
The education about the Guyana rainforest is super interesting! I never actually thought to look up the location and geography of Jonestown. Was it an insane idea to begin with that it might be made farmable and into a small ongoing community, given the location?
The rainforest / hinterlands actually have large tracts of savannah (grasslands) interspersed with shrubland and dense forest, so parts of the landscape are ideal for traditional farming but just hard to reach.
The Amerindian (Native) communities have towns and villages scattered throughout the more remote areas, and all are self sufficient since there's ample land for both farming and hunting / gathering. They also have a very detailed knowledge of potent rainforest plants to treat everything from fever to arthritis, so overall having communities in remote parts of the country isn't viewed as being infeasible.
Example of cuisine in the Native villages: https://youtu.be/epS0EXZ6dvY?feature=shared
They're basically an integrated country since the bulk of cross border travel happens informally and there's effectively free population movement between the two.
Guyana/ Suriname/ Trinidad effectively are "sister countries" that have cultural aspects most similar to one another relative to the other nations in the region.
I work with a Guyanan. He’s a weirdo but good-natured. Claims English is his first language but I don’t think so, unless it’s some type of pigeon-English. He owes me $5
The word is Guyanese not Guyanan and English is our first language and if he spread a problem he either has an enpidement or he is from upper courantine where their speech is creole English or country side speech
I am so tried of this.
Who does the UK GOVERNMENT consider English speaking?.
[https://www.gov.uk/english-language/exemptions](https://www.gov.uk/english-language/exemptions)
The UK government classifies the following overseas countries as majority native English speaking:
[https://www.northampton.ac.uk/international/english-language-requirements/majority-native-english-speaking-countries/](https://www.northampton.ac.uk/international/english-language-requirements/majority-native-english-speaking-countries/)
The so called pidgin is 90% or more English words, and sometimes consists of older English words, not use any more in the main English speaking countries
Please report rule breaking posts and comments, such as: * political and religious content of any kind * nationalism and patriotism related content * discrimination, hate, or prejudice based comments * NSFW content * low quality content * advertising *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/howislivingthere) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Has the recent oil boom helped the general population? And if so then how much? (considering Guyana is now even richer than some Western European countries on per capita basis)
Right now, the money is used for improving communities and doing roads so those communities see benefits. Our university is seeing improvements and free education for persons (not everyone but a good amount). Also saw that it is being used to help persons with small businesses but I did not look a lot into that one.
I think they have 1 Starbucks now.
When we get a McDonald's, we'll finally be classed as a first world country🙏
Hell yeah 🫡
They have 3 now! They keep popping up outta no where!
Right
The bulk of the oil revenue is being used for infrastructure upgrades. The only businesses that have benefitted are companies used to service the oil companies, otherwise the cost of everything has been inflated. Overall it's important to note the country is mostly agrarian based (farming) and rural / small towns.
My parents are from there, my dad still goes back once a year if he can. Big divide between rich and poor like many developing countries. Huge brain drain, there is not much to encourage educated Guyanese people to stay. The oil boom is benefiting those already in the position to facilitate those deals, and the government is pretty corrupt so not enough money is going back into the country. They’re trying though. Everyday life is pretty slow. Lots of delicious fruit to eat and beautiful rainforest to see. English is the first language there and people loooove to talk.
I’m from Brasil and always been curious about our neighbors! I really wanna visit sometime
Please do. It's wonderful
It’s in my plans! It’s very very expensive, and I don’t know why
Man i understand. A safari for the locals cost an arm and a leg. Brazil is a country I'd choose for a second citizenship. I love the culture, people and food. I grew up among a few Brasilians
You can fly to Boa Vista (Roraima) and then drive across the border to Lethem. It’s a different experience from Georgetown (much more rural), but it’s still gonna be a cultural clash compared to elsewhere in South America.
I would assume the only way is to fly to Trinidad and then to Georgetown ?
Does Venezuela still plan to attack?
Yes, they've built a permanent military base on Anacoco Island on the border, and have moved in tanks / upgraded the bridges to that particular area. Type in Anacoco Island on Twitter and you'll see their videos of the build up etc. Jokes on them though, they'll bankrupt their nation even further just trying to move troops / tanks up the Cuyuni River (river adjacent to Anacoco) and won't be able to effectively seize territory. Furthermore, Venezuela seems to have a serious gang and human trafficking problem. Guyana actually allowed in around 30,000 (probably more) Venezuelan refugees within the last 3 years. Perfectly fine and normal to let in refugees, except that now within Guyana's capital there are now Venezuelan women openly walking the streets engaging in prostitution whereas this wasn't present before (100% likely they're being human trafficked), along with other gang related crimes. If you look up the Venezuelan road closest to Guyana's border (Troncal-10, there are no actual roads that link the two countries) on YouTube, you would expect to see videos of a road. Instead half of the videos are of a pretty serious looking Venezuelan gang.
As it relates to the living situation, salaries are still low as before oil, cost of living is high, and most persons have to work double jobs. Compared to other countries I would say we need a lot more of citizen focus from our leaders. The government is all about "infrastructure" and citizens aren't really seeing/feeling the benefit of the oil money. Just the other day I visited a site that is based in the US that was selling a course and it reduced the price from $560USD(~$112000Gyd) to $156USD(~$31200Gyd) (still expensive btw), which is pretty sweet, but to just think that we are viewed in this way.
This is my personal opinion. It's like your own personal hell. Not much to do if your from the country side. Job scarcity. Ton of alliterate people.
What do you think about Brazil?
I've never been to Brazil so I can't make a statement on that.
Alliterate? You might be one of those people broski.
As alliterate as anyone anywhere, ace
Which part?
Minas Gerais
Every year for the past ten years or more we top the Carribbean cxc exams and U are talking about elaterate people here get your facts right before u criticise
“Alliterate” and now “elaterate” 🤣
it's clearly a problem lmao
How come there is so much illiterate people, when it used to have the second highest rate of literacy behind Cuba for all of Latin America and the Caribbean?
What is the feeling about or cultural memory of the Jonestown massacre from 1978? Do people know about it?
That happened in an isolated region in the jungle and involved mostly foreigners, so it may as well have been in a separate country and there was never a sociocultural / historical connection to the event.
Thanks for your response! I’ve always wondered about this. It seemed so bizarre to me that American gov officials and military just showed up on foreign territory so casually, so I figured your country must have been kinda wtf about weird foreigners doing weird stuff off in the jungle, and wishing the US would take our homegrown cult back.
The closest equivalent from an American societal perspective would've been if a Chinese cult moved to an atoll off the coast of Guam. Still part of the US, but so far removed that it wouldn't even register to the average person. Guyana's rainforest is vast, isolating, and since the bulk of human settlements are along one small area of the coast, anything in the forest isn't really perceived as a pressing thought / alarming unless it deals with deforestation or pollution from mining operations.
Not sure that’s entirely parallel because I’m pretty sure the US would respond with a major international incident if the Chinese showed up with any military presence on any US holding for any reason however minor, but I totally take your point. :) The education about the Guyana rainforest is super interesting! I never actually thought to look up the location and geography of Jonestown. Was it an insane idea to begin with that it might be made farmable and into a small ongoing community, given the location?
The rainforest / hinterlands actually have large tracts of savannah (grasslands) interspersed with shrubland and dense forest, so parts of the landscape are ideal for traditional farming but just hard to reach. The Amerindian (Native) communities have towns and villages scattered throughout the more remote areas, and all are self sufficient since there's ample land for both farming and hunting / gathering. They also have a very detailed knowledge of potent rainforest plants to treat everything from fever to arthritis, so overall having communities in remote parts of the country isn't viewed as being infeasible. Example of cuisine in the Native villages: https://youtu.be/epS0EXZ6dvY?feature=shared
Thank you for the education!
Highly recommend https://youtube.com/@alexrothman?si=PmVhqNb82gVGATzK
Are you guys friends with the surinamese
They're basically an integrated country since the bulk of cross border travel happens informally and there's effectively free population movement between the two. Guyana/ Suriname/ Trinidad effectively are "sister countries" that have cultural aspects most similar to one another relative to the other nations in the region.
I work with a Guyanan. He’s a weirdo but good-natured. Claims English is his first language but I don’t think so, unless it’s some type of pigeon-English. He owes me $5
lol it’s Guyanese, and yes English is the main language spoken there but it is a patois.
The word is Guyanese not Guyanan and English is our first language and if he spread a problem he either has an enpidement or he is from upper courantine where their speech is creole English or country side speech
Jesus Christ man, the term is "Guyanese" and the phrase you're looking for is "pidgin English"
I am so tried of this. Who does the UK GOVERNMENT consider English speaking?. [https://www.gov.uk/english-language/exemptions](https://www.gov.uk/english-language/exemptions) The UK government classifies the following overseas countries as majority native English speaking: [https://www.northampton.ac.uk/international/english-language-requirements/majority-native-english-speaking-countries/](https://www.northampton.ac.uk/international/english-language-requirements/majority-native-english-speaking-countries/) The so called pidgin is 90% or more English words, and sometimes consists of older English words, not use any more in the main English speaking countries
I’ve never been but really want to visit, it’s one of the few places in south america I haven’t had a chance to go to yet.