Nicholas Ross - self-employed: ‘No, I’m not happy with life in Guyana because things aren’t going right. Look at the country! Proper electricity and water supply, employment, those are the basic things that have to be in place for the country to progress. And then there is the crime. I’ve thought about going to another country but I love Guyana. Still, if there is no change in the country from how things are now I might have to leave. What future would I have to look forward to if things continue as they are?’

Nicola Somwaru - laboratory technician: ‘I am not happy with life in Guyana because the economic situation in the country is not good. The cost of living is very high. We have high electricity bills but we don’t get power, we get blackouts, we have high water bills but we don’t get water, things are not good right now. Our salaries are not good enough. I wish I could get a visa so that I could go somewhere else. Because I think I could build a better life elsewhere.’

Norma Luknauth - housewife: `There are many reasons why I am not happy. The number one reason is crime. Number two, the high electricity rates. I live at Kuru Kururu and we are not getting electricity, we don’t have telephones there. There are a lot of people who have the same problem and I don’t think that anybody is addressing the situation. And if it continues like this I don’t know what will happen, but I can only see things getting worse.’

Anthony Williams - interior worker: ‘I’m not too happy because of how things are going right now. Look at the job situation in the country. Personally, I work in the interior and I have found that now the people who are providing work are not keeping things up to standard, especially where pay is concerned. Now with the dry weather, which has dried up some of the rivers, it’s hard to work under the conditions. In the meantime you have to make do with it. I believe that things can get better and maybe they will with a new government, with new systems in place for governance and with new faces in the parties’ leadership.’

Kenrick Leitch - driver: ‘I am happy. You have to make yourself happy. It seems as though nothing can be done about the situation in the country, but all you can do is keep praying to God and hoping that we can find a solution. Right now all you can do is work and try to make do, try to be satisfied, with whatsoever you get. Things can be better and they will get better someday.’

Simone Semple - accounts clerk: ‘I can stay here. I don’t have a problem. I’ve travelled to a lot of other Caribbean countries and I’ve decided to stay here. I have a job here and money is coming. When you really look at it, look at Barbados for example, things are bad all over, not only here. But with all that is happening I am satisfied with what I have now.’

Chris Gouveia - diver: ‘I am not too happy because of the environment in the country, the crime. Especially here in Georgetown, where I was born, I don’t want to be here now.
You see, I work in the interior and I am only here on a holiday.
As things stand now, all you need to be is pedestrian walking on the street and you get hit by a stray bullet from some robbery. Just going out now is unsafe and this has to change, the situation has to change.’

Pamela Singh - housewife: ‘No, I am not happy with life because of the crisis in the country. Everyday people get killed. You wake in the morning and you hear about murders, and now all you have to do is just walk out onto the road and you get kidnapped and then your family has to pay a lot of money or they will kill you. I’ve thought about it and I plan to leave the country once all my papers are in order, because things are that bad.’

Aaron Josiah - junior accountant: `For me, right now life is alright, except for the crime situation which is affecting a lot of people, myself included. I live in Annandale. But besides crime, there are a lot of people who are unemployed, it’s really hard to get a job. If they can find a solution to this problem, I think life would be much better. Otherwise, everything is all right.’