Marrakech Riad in Morocco

We are about to engage in a “Gap Year” project with Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School in Australia, the alma mater of Edwina. For three months girls from this school will volunteer their services in the rural and city school of Morocco. From October 2008, 5% of the cooking class fees will be donated to the village school. This will be an annual donation.

During our guests holiday, Abdellatif talks about life in Morocco and we have lots of books in the salons about Islam helping to promote understanding or Moroccan culture and life. All staff are involved in our cooking classes and are encouraged to bring new recipes and ideas to the classes and are educated in the correct procedure for cooking over gas. We shop always locally, visiting the supermarket only for alcohol. We shop with baskets instead of plastic bags.

We remind guests that we are on the edge of the desert and to think about this when showering. I have educated staff to not leave taps running and to resist the temptation of filling the sponge with detergent and to not use fresh water for washing the street. We also use long life bulbs even if the light is a bit ‘white’! I am encouraging the use of vinegar and baking soda as cleaning agents.

We re-cycle paper for writing notes and try to educate the children in the street to not drop lolly papers, the adults are another issue! Re-cycling is something not understood within the medina by the rubbish collectors, although bread is disposed of in accordance with Islam. We recycle as much as possible including egg cartons back to the egg man, glass bottles back to the supermarket. On cooking days, I save the vegetable waste, to give to the donkey men. Coffee grinds and tea leaves go into a bag of soil for the pots. Everyone coming from Australia brings me baking soda for cleaning...I thought I'd found it here but it was yeast!

We employ 4 full time cleaning Moroccan staff who are all educated in service in accordance with the riad's modus operandi including considered use of water and electricity, doors and windows opened and fresh flowers as (opposed to air fresheners and rooms closed up), clothes washed in a low energy machine using cold water and hung in the sunshine, energy efficient dishwasher instead of taps running over sponges laden with detergent. We also have a Moroccan accountant and the website was also designed by a Moroccan.

We do not own a car preferring to walk or take cabs. We support a young Moroccan who has just set himself up with a car rental company. I take guests on shopping extravaganzas to places such as Ayas where local ladies are employed to embroider beautiful clothes, to make necklaces etc with the money going into their own bank accounts. Also to Reda a young spice trader deep inside the Malah, to Mohammed who makes divine tassles with his young deaf son, to places off the tourist trail where the money spent stays with the artisans.