Festive Season: Families do everything to be together
By Synthia Lateu
Accompanied by her four children, Solange makes her way to the Mile 17 Motor Park in Buea , Southwest Region. The park is unusually bustling this Sunday afternoon, 22nd December, 2024 and is flooded with people either entering the town or leaving to spend the holidays with loved ones. Her children are jumping with excitement as they anticipate their one hour journey to Muyuka, another town in Fako, to reunite with their grandparents. “That’s where they were born,” Solange reveals, adding that she has enrolled in a higher institution in Buea, which is why her children are with her. “I fear insecurity, but I have no other option. It is due to the crisis that we are afraid. But we want to spend the holidays with our parents,” she says.
At the other end of the park, Silvanus is arriving after a 12-hour journey from Bamenda in the Northwest Region, where he handed Christmas gifts to his mother. As he loads his belongings onto a truck to transfer them to another bus heading to Muyuka, where he resides, he expresses fear about spending the end of the year in this town. “I will stay indoors that day. Even if I go out, I won’t stay long. I’m scared because we don’t know if they (separatist fighters) might come and attack” Silvanus tells CNA.
Muyuka has been the scene of violent attacks since the onset of the armed conflict in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. According to Ujaga Evaristus, president of the Muyuka Highway Driver’s Association, the town was deserted at the height of the war, and the Muyuka Park almost ceased operations. He states that the situation has however improved considerably. “Things are going well. All those who had fled from Muyuka are coming back. Passengers are traveling from Buea, Douala, and Limbe to Muyuka,” he says, clarifying that he has had five rides from Muyuka to Buea and back in one, due to the fast-approaching Christmas and New Year holidays.
Across the Mile 17 motor park in Buea, passengers are taking different routes to navigate the country as they prepare for the year-end holiday. However, many are stranded due to increased transportation costs, which have risen by up to 1,000 FCFA. Limited buses add to the excitement as students also head out to reunite with their families, some of whom spent the first half of the first semester away from home.
