Aspectos generales de la zona de la red de distribución

To better understand the migration pattern of non-Fuqingnese migrants, they were asked about their motivations to come to Lesotho, the people that accompanied them, earlier outward migration experiences, the duration of their stay in Lesotho and their future plans. The motivations of non-Fuqingnese migrants highly matched those of their respective categories (see Figure 14): 74% of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 migrants (n=17) had come to Lesotho “to start a business”, and 50% of non-Fuqingnese Category 2 migrants (n=8) had come to Lesotho “to seek employment”. Only three non-Fuqingnese Category 1 migrants indicated that they had come to Lesotho to “seek employment”.

Figure 14 Motivation of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants to come to Lesotho

Motivation Category 1 Category 2 Total

Accompany family members 0 1 1

Start a business 20 1 21

Seek employment 3 8 11

While there were larger differences between motivations of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants, only small differences existed when it came to the purpose of making money (see Figure 1567_{). Out of 36 non-Fuqingnese migrants, 50% (n=18) said that the main}

purpose of making money was to “support the family” and 25% (n=9) said that it was to “support oneself”. Interestingly, only one person stated that he wanted to “buy a house”. These findings back up the view that Chinese migration is highly a family decision which serves to secure the wealth and prosperity of the family.

Figure 15 Selected purpose of making money of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants

Purpose Category 1 Category 2 Total

Support oneself 6 3 9

Support family 11 7 18

Buy a house 1 0 1

Looking at the people who accompanied non-Fuqingnese migrants, we find further support for the claim that their decision to migrate to Lesotho is mainly part of a larger family risk- diversification strategy. As Figure 16 shows, 76% of the non-Fuqingnese migrants (n= 28) came together with some part of their family and only 13% came alone (n=9). Moreover, 88%

62 (n=15) of the married non-Fuqingnese Category 1 migrants and 88% (n=8) of the married Category 2 migrants had brought some part of their family. Out of the nine migrants who had come alone, two thirds were from Category 2 (n=6). Among the six non-Fuqingnese Category 2 migrants, five were single and younger than 30, and four claimed to have come to Lesotho to seek employment.

Figure 16 Persons that accompanied non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants

Person Category 1 Category 2 Total

Alone 3 6 9 Husband/wife 12 7 19 Husband/wife + Child 1 3 4 Husband/wife + parents 3 1 4 Parents 0 0 0 Others 0 1 1

When it came to previous outward migration experiences of non-Fuqingnese migrants, surprisingly 82% of non-Fuqingnese migrants (n=32) did not have any outward migration experience (see Figure 17). Only a small group of seven non-Fuqingnese migrants (five from Category 1 and two from Category 2), stated that they had been to another country before coming to Lesotho. The majority had stayed in their previous migration destination for three years and only one person had stayed for more than nine years. Among all non-Fuqingnese migrants with previous migration experience, male migrants (n=4) had a slightly higher share than their female counterparts (n=3).

Figure 17 Previous migration experience of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants

Turning to the duration of the stay in Lesotho, almost 60% of non-Fuqingnese migrants (n=23) had been in Lesotho for at least five years. For example, out of 36 non-Fuqingnese

63 migrants68_{, 31% (n=11) had been in Lesotho for more than nine years and 25% between five} to seven years (n=9). A clear difference in the duration of the stay existed between non- Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants: 50% of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 migrants (n=18) had been in Lesotho for more than five years (see Figure 18). For non- Fuqingnese Category 2 migrants the reverse applied: 62% (n=13) 69 _{had been in Lesotho for} less than five years. Only two non-Fuqingnese Category 2 migrants had been in Lesotho for more than nine years.

Figure 18 Duration of the stay in Lesotho of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants

Regarding the answers of non-Fuqingnese migrants to the question of how long they were intending to stay in Lesotho, it could be observed that 41% of non-Fuqingnese migrants (n=16) indicated that they were intending to stay in Lesotho between one to five years. Moreover, 26% of all non-Fuqingnese migrants “did not know” how long they would stay. Only one migrant indicated to intend to leave Lesotho after more than nine years (see Figure 19). Leaving those aside who said they would not know, it could be noted that Category 1 migrants had a slightly higher share among those migrants who were indenting to stay in Lesotho for more than three years. Likewise, Category 2 migrants had a higher share among those who were intending to stay in Lesotho for less than three years.

68 _{The first version of the survey did not include this question. Therefore total number of respondents}

is 36.

69 _{The question was not included in the first round therefore three Category 2 migrants were not asked}

64

Figure 19 Intended duration of the stay in Lesotho of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants

While the answers of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants diverged with regard to the duration of their past and future stay, their answers to the question of where they intend to go afterwards were very similar: 90% of all non-Fuqingnese migrants (n=35) wanted to go to “China”, and only 2% (n=2) intended to go to America or Oceania, each (Figure 20). Tellingly all of the non-Fuqingnese migrants (five Category 1 migrants and two Category 2 migrants) who had previous outward migration experience wanted to go back to China. Furthermore, none of migrants who had migration experiences with other African countries (n=2) wanted to migrate to another African country.

Figure 20 Next migration destination of non-Fuqingnese Category 1 and Category 2 migrants