And so they did. One by one, speakers listed what they wanted: a library, streetlights, school buses, homes, a grocery store, reliable electricity, wider roads and better bridges.
The oil boom will generate billions of dollars for this largely impoverished nation. Experts worry that Guyana lacks the expertise and legal and regulatory framework to handle the influx of wealth. They say it could weaken democratic institutions and lead the country on a path like that of neighboring Venezuela, a petrostate that plunged into political and economic chaos.
A consortium led by ExxonMobil discovered the first major oil deposits in May more than miles kilometers off Guyana, one of the poorest countries in South America despite its large reserves of gold, diamond and bauxite.
The transformation has lured back Guyanese such as Andrew Rampersaud, a year-old goldsmith who left Trinidad last July with his wife and four daughters, encouraged by changes he saw in his country. Now, three to four people call daily. Dogs dart through wooden homes with zinc roofs, and the sole marketplace where vendors once sold fruits and vegetables is now a makeshift brothel. The year-old bought land in western Guyana last month and is now saving to build his first home and buy a new car.
At a job fair at the University of Guyana, excitement and curiosity were in the air as students met with oil companies, support and services firms, and agricultural groups.
