The relationship of the founder, Mr. José Ramón Mora-Figueroa, with his workers was a story of reciprocal generosity and gratitude. That spirit has been maintained over time by his successors and has adapted to the social needs of each moment. Two have been the axes that have structured the line of social commitment of Finca Las Lomas for over seven decades: the village and its school.
Housing
Las Lomas Villages
The development of Las Lomas is closely linked to the human quality and professionalism of those who joined the project. The transformation of the estate in the 50s and 60s required such a large amount of labour that it had up to eight hundred permanent employees. A big family for whom Mr. José Ramón had a weakness and so built two villages in which his workers and their families would stay. Together, both villages had around two hundred properties that housed over one thousand people. Infrastructures designed so that their inhabitants had all the services and comforts possible at that time. A church, staff shop, dispensary, social club, hotel, cinema, library and a children’s playground, among others, were also built. The school deserves special mention, which will be discussed later.
This entire initiative reinforced the ultimate goal of the founder’s approach: to improve the quality of life of his workers. A way of encouraging social development, through the creation of employment and education; values that were part of the management’s business culture and that have remained as a legacy. Because of this, in the midst of the traditional agriculture crisis, the depopulation of the area was curbed and Las Lomas became an epicentre of talent, work and social activity. Mr. José Ramón spoke at the time of preventing the Spanish countryside from being depopulated, a message that is especially relevant today when talking about the problems of empty Spain. In this regard, the current managers of Finca Las Lomas contemplate the implementation of future actions linked to the founder’s vision in order to revitalise the region
Education:
SAFA Las Lomas School
Mr. José Ramón, aware that the area of La Janda had no school that provided formal education, proposed to pay for the construction of a free school within the estate. In this way, he wanted to compensate for the lack of educational opportunities faced by the children of his workers. Faithful to his commitment to excellence, he did not cease until he found an educational agency that was up to his demands. In that search, he came across the Fundación Escuelas Profesionales Sagrada Familia (Sagrada Familia Professional Schools Foundation – SAFA), an educational work entrusted to the Society of Jesus, which had been offering educational and professional opportunities to the most disadvantaged families in Andalusia for over 25 years. The SAFA Las Lomas School was inaugurated with the start of the school year in 1968.
Jesuit Father Rafael Villoslada, founder of SAFA, was the great ally of Mr. José Ramón in this unrivalled project. An unprecedented formula of social responsibility at that time that both men developed hand in hand. A project as generous as it is visionary that resulted in the school entitled Colegio Escuelas Profesionales Sagrada Familia Ntra. Sra. del Buen Consejo Las Loma; known by everyone as SAFA Las Lomas. Its clear vocation for social service made it a benchmark for local development, and hundreds of children had the opportunity to access a better future. Its facilities had a modern building and the most advanced teaching material at that time. Since then, the Mora-Figueroa family has supported and protected the school as a symbol of the founder’s social vision. Today, within Las Lomas there is the Primary School, with thirty-eight students and five teachers, and the Secondary School, with almost two hundred students and over twenty teachers. Classes from the first year of primary school up to the fourth year of secondary school are taught here, with bilingual training during the first years. The school has a total of ten units with a robotics classroom, school garden, a support classroom and an inclusive integration programme. It is currently a benchmark in the region and receives students from Benalup, Vejer, Barbate, Caños and Zahara de los Atunes. The school also offers a school transport service and canteen with its own kitchen. The result of this initiative has been a work of enormous importance in the area, from which many of the professionals living in La Janda are a living example. Some of them hold positions of responsibility at universities, hospitals, the Government Delegation in Cádiz, the European Parliament and CERN. All those students speak not only of the academic excellence they received, but also say that, thanks to that type of education, they were educated to be people who are aware of the world and their surroundings
