Statistics and References

In 2000 the populations of the Kakumbi and Nsefu constituencies that cover the main Mfuwe area totalled 8,681. Literacy rates in Eastern Province (in which Mfuwe/Luangwa sit) are the lowest in the country at 37.9%, national average 55.3% and the lowest percentage attending school 17.7%, national average 25.8%. These trends apply across all the educational levels (pre-school, basic, primary and secondary). The national average literacy rate in rural areas is 44.7% compared to 71.5% in urban areas. If the same percentages are applied in the Mambwe area (which incorporates Mfuwe) then a literacy level of only 23.7% applies. This clearly has significant implications for training into the tourism industry in the coming years.

The 2000 census data indicate that only 38.7% of the population have access to safe water. Only 2.9% have proper latrines. In these circumstances disease-related morbidity becomes a significant factor in labour productivity.

Work in the Mfuwe area has identified it as a “hot spot” for the HIV/AIDS/Tuberculosis/Malaria disease complex. This combination of diseases is already a significant constraint, not just to productivity, but also to the cost of maintaining trained tourism staff.

References:

• Luangwa valley project: Elton, S, Barham, LS, Andrews, P & Sambrook Smith, G. 2003. ‘Pliocene femur of Theropithecus from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Journal of Human Evolution 44:133-139.

Recent publications on Zambian prehistory:

• Barham, LS 1999. ‘A new geometric painted site from Zambia.’ Southern African Field Archaeology 7:101-105.
  
• Barham, LS 2000. The Middle Stone Age of Zambia, south-central Africa. Bristol: Western Academic and Specialist Press.
  
• Barham, LS 2001. ‘Central Africa and the emergence of regional identity in the Middle Pleistocene.’ In Human Roots: Africa and Asia in the Middle Pleistocene (L Barham & K Robson-Brown eds):65-80. Bristol: Western Academic and Specialist Press.
  
• Barham, LS 2002. ‘Backed tools in the Middle Pleistocene of central Africa and their evolutionary significance.’ Journal of Human Evolution 43:585-603.
  
• Barham, LS 2002. ‘Systematic pigment use in the Middle Pleistocene of south-central Africa.’ Current Anthropology 43(1):181-190.
  
• Barham, LS, Pinto, AL, & Stringer, CB 2002. ‘Bone tools from Broken Hill (Kabwe) cave, Zambia and their evolutionary significance. Before Farming: the archaeology of Old World hunter-gatherers 2002/2 (3):1-16.
  
• Clark, JD 2001. Kalambo Falls, volume III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  
• Barham, L and CL Jarman. 2005. New radiocarbon dates for the Early Iron Age in the Luangwa Valley, Eastern Zambia. Azania XL:114-21.

This funding project is managed by Dr Larry Barham, a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Liverpool. Once established the Heritage and Conservation Centre will be managed and maintained locally by Zambia’s National Heritage Conservation Commission.

Funds are being held now by the University of Liverpool and donations can be made directly to the Liverpool University Development Fund. Please contact us to find out more about the ongoing research and conservation in the region or for further information regarding sponsorship and donations.