Umerkot, Where Desert Meets Canal: Free Help From PHWO

The old fort of Umerkot, where the Mughal emperor Akbar was born, looks out over two landscapes. To the west, canal water feeds chilli, cotton and wheat fields around Kunri and Pithoro. To the east, the sand dunes of the Thar begin, with villages that depend on rain and wells. Umerkot is also one of the districts where Hindu and Muslim families have lived side by side for centuries. Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO) serves this mix of people as a free NGO in Umerkot, open equally to every faith and caste.

You will not find a PHWO office or representative’s desk in Umerkot, Kunri or Samaro. PHWO operates from one registered address in Larkana and nowhere else. Umerkot applicants reach us through the website, message PHWO from your free PHWO account, or through a trusted local volunteer.

The people of Umerkot District

Umerkot District had 1,159,831 residents in the 2023 Census, living on 5,608 square kilometres. It is largely rural: only 22.3 percent of people are in towns such as Umerkot, Kunri, Pithoro and Samaro. Growth since 2017, when 1,073,469 people were counted, has been modest at about 1.3 percent a year.

The Sindh census report places Umerkot in the 30 to 40 percent literacy band, among the six weakest districts, and among those where 45 to 60 percent of children between 5 and 16 do not attend school. It is also one of just three districts in Sindh where fewer than one household in ten uses gas for cooking. Sindhi and Dhatki are the main languages, and many Hindu communities, including Meghwar, Bheel and Kolhi families, live in the district.

Chillies, cotton and hard labour

Kunri is known across Pakistan as a market for red chillies, and much of the picking and drying is done by landless families working for daily or seasonal wages. Cotton picking follows a similar pattern. When prices fall or the crop fails, these workers have little to fall back on, and advance payments from landlords can turn into long-term debt.

If your family is in that position, you can ask PHWO for ration or for help towards a debt. Describe the amount, the lender and the pressure you face. Each application is checked, and we are open that help cannot be promised.

Applying from Umerkot

Go to Request help. Select the kind of need, such as ration, repayment of a loan, medicine, school costs, rent, flood or drought losses, or a phone or laptop for education or a job. Add a live photo of the applicant, and explain the need in Sindhi, Dhatki or Urdu.

Someone who volunteers nearby may ring you to go over the details. After that, PHWO judges if the need is real and if meeting it is possible. Only then is help put in place. Applying is free at every step.

Devices for students in Umerkot and Kunri

Across Pakistan, one of the most frequent requests PHWO gets is for a laptop or smartphone to study or earn with. In a district where colleges are few and far apart, a device can let a young woman in Samaro join online classes from home or help a graduate in Umerkot town find remote work. Tell us your course, your plans and why you cannot buy the device yourself. The digital skills area on our programmes page explains the wider aim.

Free legal aid in Umerkot

Much of the legal help people ask PHWO for concerns the family: khula, maintenance, dowry and custody. For Umerkot residents these cases are heard by family judges at the district courts in Umerkot town. Hindu women can also have questions about marriage registration under the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act.

Describe your case on the free legal aid page; you do not need a police report to do so. Where custody is disputed or a hearing is near, say so, and volunteer advocates will read it earlier. No lawyer or verdict can be promised. Umerkot’s District Legal Empowerment Committee can also arrange a lawyer at state cost for people who qualify.

For violence, forced conversion threats or abduction, go to the police on 15 at once, and call the Sindh women’s helpline 1094 for advice.

Drought years and the 2022 rains

Eastern Umerkot shares the Thar’s cycle of drought, when wells dry up and herders move with their animals in search of fodder. In 2022 it faced the opposite: PDMA Sindh recorded 42 affected union councils and 332 kilometres of damaged road in Umerkot by 13 September, with 17 relief camps holding 2,970 people. Mud houses collapsed and standing crops were lost. Losses from either kind of disaster can be explained in a request to PHWO.

Help Umerkot as a volunteer or donor

Advocates, teachers and health workers in Umerkot, Kunri and Pithoro can volunteer. Local volunteers who speak Dhatki are especially useful in desert villages. Each person who helps is given a certificate by PHWO, along with a letter thanking them and one describing their experience.

You can donate money or goods, or pick one family to sponsor a case. Zakat and Sadaqah through PHWO go on to deserving people without a cut; use the Zakat calculator to check your amount. The Rishta Desk serves Umerkot’s Muslim, Hindu and Christian families free of charge. It checks each profile with a live selfie and a PHWO staff review, and families alone decide.

Public services in Umerkot you can also use

• Civil Hospital UmerkotDistrict headquarters hospital run by the Sindh government.
• Umerkot district courtsFamily judges and the District Legal Empowerment Committee.
• BISP tehsil officeKafaalat registration and Taleemi Wazaif; 0800-26477.
• Rescue 1122 SindhEmergency rescue and ambulance.
• Police emergency15 for police; 1094 women's helpline; 115 Edhi.

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

Frequently asked questions