Welfare Help for Karachi Families, Online and Free

Karachi has thousands of charities, so why write to one more NGO in Karachi? Because Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO) works without a counter or a queue. You send your request from Korangi, Orangi, Lyari or Gulshan on our website or through Message PHWO in your free PHWO account, and it is looked at on its merits. There is no fee at any stage.

Please know one thing before you start: PHWO has no office, centre or camp in Karachi. Our only office is our registered one in Larkana. Karachi residents reach us online, by messaging PHWO from a free PHWO account, and through volunteers who live in the city.

What Karachi households ask PHWO for

Karachi is one of the places our help requests come from most often, and three needs keep coming back.

1. A laptop or smartphone so a young person can study, freelance or keep a job. In a city where so much work now runs online portals, a broken phone can mean lost income.
2. Ration for families whose earner is a rickshaw driver, factory helper or domestic worker and whose pay does not cover rising rent and bills.
3. Debt taken for a hospital bill, a wedding or a failed small business, often at a heavy cost.

Apply through Request help and add a clear live photo of yourself. Every request goes through verification and an assessment; support follows only where a confirmed need can be met, and no result is promised.

Free legal aid in Karachi: family courts first

Much of the legal help people ask us for concerns khula, maintenance and child custody. In Karachi these cases are filed in the family courts of each district, while many other matters sit at the City Courts near M.A. Jinnah Road. The Sindh High Court’s principal seat is also in Karachi.

Use the free legal aid form to describe your case. Volunteer advocates go through custody matters and anything with a close hearing date first, and no police report is required before you write to us. If you are searching for a free lawyer in Karachi, remember that each district also has a District Legal Empowerment Committee that can pay for counsel for people who cannot afford it.

A city of more than twenty million

The 2023 Census counted 20,382,881 people in Karachi Division across seven districts, up from 16,024,894 in 2017. That is an average growth of 4.1 percent a year, the fastest of any division in Sindh. Almost 93 percent of people live in urban areas. The census report also notes that Karachi receives the great majority of people who move to Sindh from other provinces, which is why you hear Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, Punjabi, Balochi, Seraiki, Hindko and more in a single bus ride.

Literacy in the Karachi districts is above 60 percent, the highest band in the province, yet the growth of katchi abadis, water shortages and rising living costs leave many households one emergency away from crisis.

The seven districts are very different. Karachi Central packs 3,822,325 people into just 69 square kilometres, while Malir covers 2,160 square kilometres and is still less than half urban. Korangi and Keamari have the largest households in the division, at more than six people each, and it is common for two or three generations to share one small flat or house.

Karachi volunteers and overseas donors

Karachi gives PHWO many of its volunteers, and we need more. Practising lawyers are the most valuable, followed by people who can raise funds in their office, university or neighbourhood. Sign up on the volunteer page. Your hours are recognised with a certificate, an appreciation letter and a letter confirming your experience.

A large share of Karachi households have a son, brother or cousin working in Dubai, Riyadh, London, Toronto or Houston. If that is you, you can donate from abroad or sponsor a case for a specific family. Nothing is deducted from Zakat or Sadaqah before it reaches the needy, and the Zakat calculator lets you total your cash, gold and business stock before Ramadan.

Rishta in Karachi without a middleman fee

Searches for rishta in Karachi are common, and so are paid marriage bureaus. Karachi’s mix of communities is welcome on PHWO’s Rishta Desk, which charges nothing and accepts every religion. Profiles are checked with a live selfie and reviewed by PHWO staff. The decision always rests with the two families, and PHWO does not promise that a suitable proposal will appear.

Before you apply: a short checklist

• You do not need a CNIC or B-form to apply. If your card has expired, renew it at NADRA first, because unverified identities slow everything down.
• Collect recent papers that show the need: a hospital prescription from Civil Hospital or JPMC, a school fee challan, an electricity bill, a rent agreement or a written note of the debt.
• In the form, give your name, area, and what you are asking for.
• Give a working mobile number. A Karachi volunteer may call to confirm your address in Baldia, Landhi, Surjani or wherever you live.
• Be patient and honest. Wrong details only delay the review.

Businesses and institutions

Karachi companies, schools and community organisations can partner with PHWO on education, health, digital skills or relief work, and individuals can take up membership.

Public services in Karachi you can also use

• Civil Hospital Karachi (Dow University)Large public teaching hospital near the City Courts.
• Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC)Public tertiary hospital on Rafiqui Shaheed Road.
• City Courts and district family courtsFamily, civil and criminal cases; District Legal Empowerment Committees can fund a lawyer.
• Sindh High Court, principal seatConstitutional petitions and appeals.
• BISP offices in KarachiBenazir Kafaalat enrolment and payments; helpline 0800-26477.
• Emergency numbersPolice 15 (Madadgar); rescue 1122; Edhi 115; women's helpline 1094.

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

Frequently asked questions