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The management at Sawadi has strived to create work conditions enhance and sustain a high level of motivation among our employees. Following are some examples of actions we have taken: we recruit and hire locally ; salaries a based on performance ; employee profit sharing participation ; free distribution of our farm products (olive oil, jams and preserves, fruit and vegetables) ; appropriate lodging for those employees who live on site.
We offer our personnel a training program to enhance their job skills and their ability to find employment in general. This training focuses mainly on their skills for plant and animal husbandry, hygiene, languages…
The personnel are hired on a full year basis including low season |
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Read more... [Socially responsible employment]
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All the buildings at Sawadi have been designed and built respecting the traditional local Berber architecture. The houses are daubed with a coating of mud and straw and have narrow window frames. This local ancestral technique allows the interior of the house to remain cool in summer and warm in winter.
The ceilings have exposed eucalyptus or poplar beams with recessed coffers of weaved reeds four or five layers deep.
Each detail has been carefully considered to ensure maximum comfort while maintaining the authenticity of the local architecture. All the residential buildings of course are heated and have running hot water.
We have made one significant concession to consumerism : we have installed a number of air conditioners that have mainly a support function but also respond to commercial requirements. However, the building construction with its mud and straw daubing often makes air conditioning unnecessary. In any case, two of the buildings are air conditioned utilizing the Canadian or Mediterranean design which pipes the air into underground wells thus ensuring a constant and acceptable temperature both in summer as in winter. |
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Read more... [The architecture]
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 Food preparation is consistent with Sawadi’s « natural » ideal. Fresh and cooked products consumed by our guests at Sawadi come from our own farm (meats and vegetables). When eating a tajine, a couscous and other local dishes, guest can see the parcel in the orchard where the vegetables were harvested. We do not use any chemical fertilizers or pesticides in our farm ; we utilize only natural fertilizers and control pests such as ants and aphids by spraying natural « black soap » |
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Read more... [Cooking Foodstuffs]
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At Sawadi, water is considered a rare commodity that absolutely must be conserved even though the estate is well supplied by two wells (the water nap is only 9 m deep). The irrigation of older tree plantations (olive trees, palm trees, almond trees, etc.) is done frugally and at carefully selected times of day. |
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Wastewater is treated by means of a true septic tank (not the common Moroccan « lost well ») with horizontal filtering discharge to ensure avoiding contamination of the water table. This water treatment meets European norms thus making Sawadi one of the rare sites that have achieved this level of respect for the environment in Morocco. |
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