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Big-hearted philanthropist Jawaher Almoayyed has cooked up a clever fundraising concept to support women and girls across the kingdom by selling sweet cookies and tasty desserts from her bakery White Spoon in Riffa to invest in their education.
The 24-year-old architecture graduate, who works in property management, came up with the bake sale-inspired idea during her fourth-year December break from Northeastern University in Boston. She had returned to Bahrain to celebrate National Day and the festive season with her family and friends and instead ended up finding her calling.
It all started when one of her friends told her that she was flying out to a Syrian refugee camp to provide tents. Eager to learn more about the cause, Jawaher turned to Netflix to watch a documentary called White Helmets which is where she got the inspiration for the name of her shop.
“I wanted to help by raising money but I didn’t want to just ask people for donations,” said Jawaher a former Ibn Khuldoon National School student. “I started selling my mother Dina Buachale’s famous cookies and with the help of the community we raised BD14,000.
“That opened my eyes to the potential of cookies and how much change one person could do. During my last semester at university I developed my 50/50 business model for White Spoon and couldn’t wait to come back and embark on the project.”
Jawaher began her charitable venture in June 2017 from her home in Sanabis. Her mother Dina, an interior designer developed the recipes while Jawaher’s team whipped up an array of cookies for her worthwhile cause. In September 2018, the cookies continued in Riffa.
“I wanted to create a model that would be self-sustainable, that would generate income and be independent of third party uncertainties,” said Jawaher. “Hence, I linked it to a business and as long as White Spoon is growing then our contributions to the society will grow too. I carefully chose a cause that is also self-sustainable – education.
“Education ensures financial independence and the person who is educated through our contributions today is completely self-reliant tomorrow and hopefully also learns to be a responsible social citizen in the future contributing to causes dear to them.
“I wanted to focus on women and education because I believe that it is the best investment one can make today for a brighter tomorrow. Queen Rania once said that if you educate a woman, you educate a family and if you educate a girl, you educate the future. I totally believe in that!
“Women and girls who get an education earn more money, are healthier and contribute more to their communities. That’s why this cookie company supports women of all nationalities through educational causes, whether living in Bahrain or abroad. Fifty per cent of our profits support women who have the ambition to study but lack the funds to do so.
“Once we have reached our goal for the cause, we move on to the next. By helping one girl at a time, we think we can slowly help bridge the gender gap that negatively affects our society.”
Jawaher first set out to help Rahma, an honour student at the Applied Science University, who needed BD556 to pay for her summer course. She had only two courses left to graduate and thanks to the kingdom’s cookie-craving monsters, she was able to achieve her goal and moved on to better things.
Since then, Jawaher has supported eight fierce females and finds each story more moving than the next.
“Every cause is inspiring to me because each girl has her own dreams,” she said. “One that I would like to mention in particular is Erlyn. She is the daughter of my domestic helper and cookie manager – Joseline.
“Joseline was in university studying to be an engineer when she got pregnant with Erlyn. This forced her to drop out of school. She did what she could to support her child and accepted a job as a domestic helper.
“She is extremely hardworking and supported me to open my shop. It could not have been what it is today without her help. Erlyn is a bright girl like her mother. She got perfect grades in high school and even earned a full scholarship!
“She used to work after her classes to save money to pay for her dormitory at university and I thought she was most deserving and rather inspiring to support. Erlyn, who lives in the Philippines, became our fourth cause and I hope in the future she is given more choices than her mother had.”
Now Erlyn is studying accounting in the Philippines and Jawaher is ensuring that her housing is paid for so that Erlyn can concentrate on her studying instead.
“We are transparent about who we donate to and a personal hurdle for me was establishing the criteria in picking potential applicants,” said Jawaher. “I’ve come to realise that it is more effective to pick applicants that have the potential to help others rather than the applicant that needs the most help to ensure that the ripple effect is greater. That is why when I pick an applicant one of the questions I ask her is how she will use her education to help someone she knows.
“Sometimes I come across people that have an opinion regarding who I should help and I often get to hear how I should help other more pressing needs like hunger, poverty and destitution as compared to education.
“The thing is I don’t aim to put out fires, I want to find the cause of the fire. That is how I see education and the solution to poverty.
“Give a woman a fish, feed her for a day. Teach her how to fish and she will feed herself and her family for a lifetime. This is what I meant by sustainable giving. What I look for in an applicant is a woman who has ambition and realistic dreams. A woman that is actively working towards her goal and putting in the effort to achieve it as well as has a sense of social responsibility to help someone else in the future.”
Now the team is working on raising funds for Zainab, a mother of two girls that has been struggling for seven years to finish off her schooling due to financial limitations.
Dedicated to completing her education, Zainab started selling cookies and cakes from her own home just to make some extra money to register in the University of Bahrain College of Health Sciences. She is currently attending night classes while working at the Ministry of Health to provide for her children.
Jawaher and the team are trying to raise BD4,320 for Zainab’s upcoming courses.
“We want to help make her educational journey and dream successful,” said Jawaher. “Join us in this quest and make a dream for someone come true. A few cookies could go a long way!
“Doing good is contagious and it spreads quickly. When someone does good, they inspire people to change too. My friend went to the Syrian refugee camp and inspired me to do something and now I’m able to support many girls dreams.”
Individual cookies can be snapped for BD1 each and there are also boxes for sale. A box of 12 is priced at BD8 and a box of 24 costs BD12. The shop is open daily from 10am to 10pm except on Friday which is from 1pm to 9pm and from 2pm to 10pm on Wednesday.
Those interested in purchasing these packages of kindness can find out more by visiting www.whitespoon-bh.com or following them on Instagram @whitespoon_bh.
