About Us

Our Founder’s Story

Abdul Jamil Kamawal was born and raised in a rural village, in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan, in the District of Kama. While much of his childhood was lost in the shadow of being an orphan with siblings to care for, his immense love for education earned him a scholarship to study surveying in the United States in the state of Oregon.

Shortly after obtaining his Associates degree in the 60’s, he left the US and returned to his village to fulfill his responsibility to his family and community. His hope was always to help support sustainable change within the community. However, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, significant turmoil and disruption forced him to flee with his wife and children to nearby Pakistan. Risking the trek to Pakistan through mountainous terrain and leaving all their possessions behind, they endured four years as refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan. Abdul Jamil Kamawal and his family eventually were able to relocate to the U.S. He later changed his last name to Kamawal, meaning “a person from Kama,” to reflect his connection to his people and his pride in the village that raised him.

Jamil’s deep-rooted love for his hometown did not let distance affect his ability to provide for it. In the late 90’s, he started doing humanitarian work in his home village in Afghanistan, which was officially established as Kama Relief Corporation and received 501(c)3 status in 2001. He was able to make trips back to Afghanistan to give back a little of what Allah had given him. His goal to help those in need and to support sustainable change in his village never faded. He did not want people to have to leave Afghanistan to have a better life; he wanted opportunities to be available for people within their home community.

He worked for countless hours with no worldly gain in return, in the hopes of pleasing Allah through providing aid and resources to his beloved village. The fruits of his labor shone through in the schools and Masjids KRC built, in the food distributed to thousands of families, and in the support of orphans who he was once not so different from. The community wanted girls to receive an education in their own community without having to travel a great distance.

Jamil built the first school for girls in his village. Even after watching his country endure war after war, he never gave up hope that it had the potential to rebuild. He knew every child deserved the opportunity he was given.

Kama Relief was saddened by the sudden death of our founder Abdul Jamil Kamawal in 2016 but Kama Relief continues to carry out his vision through his family and the board of directors through this important work. As a family-run organization, we strive to embody Jamil’s values and morals in the continuation of his legacy. By the will of Allah, we hope to continue to extend the reach of his work and be a part of rebuilding the country he cared so deeply for.