Molyko by night, life goes on despite insecure outskirts

By Shanta Sih

Molyko is a village situated in the Northeast of Bokoko, and South of Bitingui, in Buea the former German capital of Cameroon and it lies at the foot of the highest mountain in West Africa. It is a cosmopolitan city and has mainly a student population of both national and international students. Because of the famous top-ranked iconic University of Buea ( a place to be) the city is a young vibrant community of jovial students.

The city was once vibrant before the outbreak of the armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon in 2016. Years on, life has begun to return to normal and the Molyko by night is once again bustling with locals making a living. Life in Molyko is not however the same in the outskirts of Buea where you must be extra careful going out at night or even using the highway.

Peer pressure in social life such as fashion, dating, and a couple of others are a few issues that I think are inevitable in any student area. Parties, restaurants, bars, and electronic shops are famous gathering grounds especially when it comes to watching European premier league football.

I have quite a nice time going out at night to observe how the population is responding to months of relative calm. If you are new in Molyko at night, you won’t even know that there is an ongoing armed conflict in the region. Life in Molyko at night sometimes leaves many people speechless, others are happy especially visitors. Molyko has dozens of nightclubs with new ones popping up from every corner. Also, I observed that there are dozens of restaurants and other joints that students cannot avoid. The area is always spicy from the food to the drinks to the entertainers and the life, as a Buea person will say, “all na milk” meaning everything is superb.

“Sometimes I really wonder if these young students have time to study, from even Mondays to Sundays, they are on the streets. Weekends are often the peak periods especially in places like Las Vegas, St. Claire, Malingo junction, and this so-called La Cave” an observer, Asongfack Sheila told me.

However, there are some students who do not mix play with work, they have their schedule well in place “I personally love it at Sky lounge, I relax there with friends but just during the weekends because I study and have school weekdays” Romeo told me in a discussion.

Coupled with this is traffic, traffic in Buea is becoming intense, we will talk about the upsurge of township taxis another day, “At about 2 am just get close to Las Vegas Snack or this new one called Sugar lounge, a lot of traffic because of the unbelievable population,” another night party-goer said.

Do not get me wrong, people think everyone living in Molyko is irresponsible and lost because of the too much population and absurd cases that occur every day, worst at night. Going out at night to have fun is just a cool thing to do especially when you are secure. It is essential to always be on the watch out and stay close in a group when going back home.

Viva les weekends!