کیسه په پښتو ژبهداستان به زبان دری
Bahar, Khatera, Narges and Homeyra Shams
100% of your donation in honor of the Shams sisters will support their endeavor to empower Afghan women to start their own businesses and build financial independence. Your donation is tax deductible.
“We believe that if you are doing something good, the community will support you. Sunshine Spice Café has been something good, and the Boise community has never left us.”
---Homeyra Shams, Co-owner, Sunshine Spice Café
Bahar, Khatera, Narges and Homeyra Shams were born in Afghanistan. The four sisters and their parents, Seyed and Zohre, escaped the Taliban, eventually relocating in Boise where they now own and operate the Sunshine Spice Café and Bakery on Fairview Avenue.
In this endeavor, the talented, independent and tenacious siblings collaborate to bring flavors of Afghanistan to Idaho’s Treasure Valley. Last year Khatera Shams received recognition through her nomination as Outstanding Baker in the James Beard Foundation 2022 awards. Also, the sisters soon plan to open a second café in downtown Boise, and they hope to help other Afghan women succeed as entrepreneurs.
The Shams sisters’ journey from Afghanistan to Boise is nothing short of miraculous—and riveting. Their father supported the family by running an auto mechanic business in Afghanistan. As much as their parents loved their home and the Afghan culture, they had grave concerns when the Taliban seized control of Kabul in 1996.
Bahar credits the sisters’ inspiration to their parents, “because they saved us from the Taliban in Afghanistan and because they wanted us to study and become someone in the future.” So, to prevent the oppression and destined invisibility of their daughters if the family remained in Afghanistan, Sayed and Zohre sold everything, including their house, and then the family walked to Iran, literally. Also, at times, with help from others, they rode horses and crammed into big trucks.
After three years, when the threat arose in Iran of the family being returned to Afghanistan, the Shams then walked across another border, this time all the way to Turkey. While in Turkey, they first considered America as a possible destination. Homeyra says that when they left Afghanistan, “we were not thinking about America at all. We just wanted to get out of Afghanistan.”
In Turkey, their parents’ friends encouraged them to go to the United Nations (UN) for help rather than crossing borders illegally to get into Europe. So, with UN assistance, they applied for and obtained asylum status to the United States. Not given a choice of where they would live, the family was relocated to Boise, Idaho in 2003 along with about 25 other Afghan families, with whom they remain friends.
Idaho Becomes Home
“We want to share with Idahoans because, when we came here, they gave us everything, and we now have the opportunity to give back.”
Upon arrival in Idaho, the sisters were welcomed by the Agency for New Americans and enrolled in local Boise schools. They spoke no English, couldn’t read, or write, so initially school was difficult. In Boise public schools, however, they learned English as well as other subjects. All four sisters held jobs throughout their high school years, often more than one. More hard work and perseverance paid off and eventually the sisters all graduated from either Borah or Centennial High Schools.
Bahar, the oldest, was about 16, and Homeyra, the youngest, was about 11 when they arrived in Idaho. Typical of many Afghan families, the Shams are close-knit, and the sisters, all very talented, share traits of hard work and tenacity. Bahar spoke on behalf of her sisters, explaining, “Our parents were older, and we never wanted to leave them because they’ve been through a lot…they brought us here….so we wanted to be always together.”
So, in 2019, after years of planning and research, and shortly before the COVID Pandemic began, the sisters, with their parents’ blessing and support, opened the Sunshine Spice Café & Bakery. The business provided a place where they could highlight their individual talents and introduce Afghan food and culture to people in Idaho. As Khatera noted, “We want to share with Idahoans because, when we came here, they gave us everything, and we now have the opportunity to give back.”
The Treasure Valley Rallies to Their Support During COVID
“We lost our jobs. We spent all the money we had to open this Café. And, oh my gosh, suddenly we had nothing again, but it was our customers that supported us and helped us get through the Pandemic.”
With hardship woven into their DNA by life experiences, they withstood the Pandemic (the Café was closed for five months), and also the unexpected death of their father from a heart attack in 2020. They attribute their strength and ability to cope to their parents’ example. As Bahar said, “When the Taliban came….we lost everything. We moved to different cities, then countries, and started everything from zero. So right now my parents inspire us…that when we start back from zero, to not give up.” When the Pandemic hit, the sisters were faced with potential ruin and starting back at zero.
“We lost our jobs,” Bahar noted. “We spent all the money we had to open this Café. And, oh my gosh, suddenly we had nothing again, but it was our customers that supported us and helped us get through the Pandemic.” Once they were able to reopen, the sisters found a continuous stream of support from their customers who supported them during the Pandemic. That community support is one reason the café has been designed to showcase the talent of local Ada and Canyon County artists.
The Sunshine Spice Café & Bakery offers an artsy vibe as well as delicious food. Sisters Narges and Homeyra create visual art, using many different mediums for the Café as well as managing a gallery that showcases work of local artists. Prominently displayed at the Café is a portrait of their father painted by Homeyra. They also mold ceramics and metalwork which are displayed in the Café. In addition to their paintings, Narges and Homeyra host many art classes within the community, to help others heal and learn through art the way they did.
The menu includes a fusion of Central Asian and American cuisines. It also features Afghan recipes that have been in existence for thousands of years, many of them Shams’ family recipes. Saffron is a common ingredient, and a hard one to come by in Idaho. At the café one can enjoy a saffron latte or spiced masala chai paired with a pistachio baklava or even their mother’s decadent saffron pudding.
Saffron remains a central flavor during the lunch hour where a customer can enjoy a cup of saffron green tea with Afghan avocado toast. Narges described the unique method behind this specialty.
“We start with traditional Afghan bread, which is my mother’s recipe,” she explained. “Then we make up a fried egg. I put in black pepper and a red pepper with the avocado, it makes it look good and taste delicious. Then we add a side of fried tomatoes.”
One will see saffron used throughout the menu. Saffron is only cultivated in Afghanistan and Iran, making it a rare and delicate spice. Harvesting it is one of the few jobs women are allowed to have in Afghanistan.
Supporting Female Entrepreneurs
“We want to motivate other women so they can have opportunities and do what they like.”
Sunshine Spice is the nickname of saffron, which the sisters import from Afghanistan. Bahar states that the saffron industry in Afghanistan is one of the few industries that provide Afghan women limited employment opportunities. She also explains that many Afghan women are “single moms. They’ve never been to school, and they cannot read...they work at the saffron mill from 7 am to 7 pm, picking each saffron bloom…with their hands...there are no machines.”
Thousands of families urgently evacuated their homes in August 2021 after the departure of U.S. troops and subsequent collapse of the Afghan government.
Unfortunately, once they arrived in the United States, employment prospects for female Afghan refugees were not great either because many do not know how to read or write, let alone speak English.
With that in mind, the Shams sisters want to help other Afghan women by raising funds to support the survival of Afghan women, many of whom lost their families and do not have a male figure supporting them or who do not have the opportunities to work outside the home. They also hope to enable these women to become entrepreneurs, perhaps in the saffron or bakery business. To do so, the Shams sisters are setting up an export/import business for saffron that will expand availability of the spice in the United States. They also will source the saffron only from female harvesters and millers.
“We want to motivate other women,” Homeyra says, “so they can have opportunities and do what they like.”
Back here in Idaho, this year the Shams sisters will open a second location for Sunshine Spice Café, they hope to use both locations to mentor fellow female refugees in business and the arts, all while helping them learn English in the workplace.
At the café, the Shams sisters have also created a green tea infused with saffron. All profits from the sale of this tea will be used to empower female Afghans to start small businesses and hone their entrepreneurial skills.
“I want to help [these women]…start a small business so they can make their own money,” Bahar says. America offers new hopes and dreams for women and girls that are forbidden to them under the oppression of the Taliban. Financial independence is critical for Afghan women, especially for newly arrived refugees in cities such as Boise, Meridian, Twin Falls, and Nampa.
Therefore, as we kick off the New Year with Humans of Idaho, 100% of donations received will honor the Shams sisters to support their entrepreneurial endeavor to help and empower Afghan women start small businesses and begin to build financial independence.
Make a donation.
Support the Shams sisters as they seek to empower Afghan women start their own businesses and build financial independence. Your donation is tax deductible. 100% of your donation will be granted to the Shams Sisters and will support their inspiring endeavor.
THANK YOU!!!
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