Autor:in: M. Nkoko Author , M. Mpobole Author , M. Mokheti Author , S. Matsoso Author , T. Rabhoko Author , L. Mosoeunyane Author. This study was conducted by a group of six students at the national university of Lesotho as part of their academic requirement to investigate the challenges and consequences of rural-urban migration on migrants and their immediate families.
The study was taken using semi structured interviews as a data collection method. Both migrants and their immediate families from Ha-Lebamang village in Roma were selected using snowball sampling. Among twenty interviewees, ten were migrants while the other ten were members of immediate families. The study examined the factors that facilitated rural-urban migration where most of the respondents said that they migrated to seek employment and few respondents migrated because of hunger.
Moreover, the study investigated challenges faced by migrants at their place of destination. Based on the findings it was found out that most of the migrants were oppressed at work. Others indicated that they faced challenges such as language barrier, not being paid well and incurring injuries at work. The Study also investigated how the migrants dealt with those challenges and the findings revealed that most migrants joined trade unions to overcome the challenges.
Some migrants adapted to the working environment while others changed jobs. Furthermore, the study explored the consequences of rural-urban migration on immediate families of the migrants. Some migrants experienced positive and negative consequences of rural-urban migration.
Positively, they were able to pay for school related issues and from the negative side they experienced burglary by thieves back home. The data was analyzed using content analysis as it is highly suitable for qualitative data.
