Dadu After the Water: Free Support From PHWO

For many families in Dadu, life is now divided into before and after 2022. The floods that summer turned fields into lakes and left villages cut off for weeks. Recovery has been slow. If you are looking for an NGO in Dadu that can hear your situation without asking for a fee, Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO) will read a request from Johi, Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah or any other taluka of the district.

PHWO is voluntary, non-political and non-sectarian. It does not have an office in Dadu. Its one office is the registered address in Lahori Muhalla, Larkana. Dadu residents can apply on phwo.org, message PHWO from your free PHWO account, or ask a volunteer to assist.

What the 2022 floods did to Dadu

Dadu lies between the Indus and the Kirthar hills, so it takes water from both the river and the hill torrents. In 2022 it was hit from both sides. PDMA Sindh’s report of 13 September 2022 lists 66 union councils in Dadu District as affected, 65 roads and 569 kilometres of road damaged, and 99 culverts harmed. Mud homes collapsed, stored wheat was ruined, and livestock drowned.

Much of that loss has turned into debt: money borrowed to rebuild a room, buy seed or replace a buffalo. Families who are still paying can ask PHWO to consider their case. Losses from a disaster are a category on our Request help form.

When the water was at its height in September 2022, PDMA Sindh listed 154 relief camps in Dadu District sheltering more than 45,000 people, behind only Naushahro Feroze, Larkana and Khairpur in the number of camps. Many families spent weeks on embankments before they could return to their villages and begin rebuilding.

Dadu District today

The 2023 Census recorded 1,742,320 people in Dadu District, on 7,866 square kilometres. Only a quarter live in towns such as Dadu, Mehar, Johi and Khairpur Nathan Shah. The population rose from 1,550,390 in 2017. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, literacy lies between 40 and 50 percent, and somewhere between 45 and 60 percent of Dadu’s school-age children are recorded as not enrolled.

Sindhi is the main language. In the Kachho plain and the hills, Brahui and Balochi-speaking families graze goats and depend on rain that often fails.

Life in the Kachho and the Kirthar foothills

West of the canals, the Kachho plain depends almost entirely on rain and on hill torrents from the Kirthar range. In dry years there is no crop and little grass for goats, and families move closer to the canal towns in search of day labour. In wet years, as 2022 showed, the same torrents can sweep houses away. Drinking water is a daily struggle in these villages, and girls often spend hours fetching it instead of attending school.

People from this belt are welcome to apply to PHWO like anyone else. A teacher, a neighbour or a relative with a smartphone can help take the photo and send the form.

What you can ask for

• Monthly ration while a family rebuilds or waits for the next harvest.
• Help with a loan that has become impossible to repay.
• A laptop or phone so a Dadu student can attend classes online or a graduate can take remote work; across Pakistan this is among the things people ask PHWO for most often.
• School or college fees, medicine and hospital costs, rent.
• Replacement of goods lost to flood or fire.

Each application needs a current live photo of the applicant. A volunteer will check the information. After that, the case is assessed on need; where it is confirmed and within reach, help is arranged. PHWO never promises an amount or a time, and it never charges applicants.

Free legal aid in Dadu

Legal questions from Dadu, as elsewhere, mostly concern divorce by khula, a wife’s or child’s maintenance, and who keeps the children. Such cases are filed in the family courts at Dadu’s district courts, with sessions courts also working in Mehar and other talukas.

The free legal aid form is open to you even if no FIR exists. Volunteer advocates check custody disputes and imminent hearings first. We cannot guarantee a lawyer or any court result. Please also ask about the District Legal Empowerment Committee at the district court, which pays for lawyers for people who cannot afford one.

Getting help in a hurry

PHWO is not an emergency service. If someone is injured, trapped by water or in danger, call 1122 for rescue, 15 for police or 115 for Edhi first. Women facing violence can call the Sindh helpline 1094. When the emergency is over, you can write to us about what the family needs next.

Help Dadu from wherever you are

People from Dadu who now live in Karachi, Hyderabad or the Gulf often want to help their home district. You can make a gift in cash or kind, or take on one case such as rebuilding a house or paying a student’s fee. Zakat and Sadaqah sent to PHWO go wholly to people in need, and the Zakat calculator can help you with the sums.

If you live in Dadu, volunteer. Local volunteers can reach villages that outsiders cannot. PHWO recognises every volunteer with a certificate as well as an appreciation letter and experience letter. Lawyers and fundraisers are needed most.

Families can also use the free Rishta Desk, open to all faiths, with a live selfie check and a PHWO staff review of each profile; the families alone decide.

Public services in Dadu you can also use

• Civil Hospital DaduDistrict headquarters government hospital.
• Dadu district courtsFamily and sessions courts; District Legal Empowerment Committee.
• PDMA SindhProvincial disaster authority; flood warnings and relief updates.
• BISP tehsil office DaduKafaalat, flood cash relief updates and stipends; 0800-26477.

These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.

Frequently asked questions