Our Story

A group of caring volunteers originally formed The Overseas Welfare Society UK on the 8th of August 2010 in Birmingham. The first annual general meeting was held in November 2011 in the town of Bury near Manchester.

The initial aim of this Society was to create and develop coordination amongst the British Pakistani ex-pat community, with a vision to support the needy living in the two Villages in Punjab (Pakistan): in particular the underprivileged widows and orphans.

With time it has become more and more apparent that there were many widows and orphan families living in these villages that did not have enough funds to meet their basic needs.

As a result, strong-willed and charitable members of the community managed to organise a schedule for donation collections and find a transparent way for the distribution of funds to reach the needy thereby helping to provide their basic everyday necessities.

With this solid foundation, the organisation is continually growing; the latest figures show that The OWS UK helped over 70 families last year with the focus on now firmly on expanding to help even more – what began as a Society of like-minded charitable individuals, has now evolved into becoming a registered charity with the Charity Commission of England and Wales with a clear purpose and vision: to provide vulnerable widows and their children with dignity by providing them with an income for their basic needs and helping them to become self-sufficient.

Our inspiration for this work is clear: As our beloved prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said:

 

“I and the caretaker of the orphan will enter paradise together”

Chairman Statement

Dear respected readers,

The OWS UK has been a beacon of hope for the underprivileged widows & orphans in the Punjab region of Pakistan. This mission began 10 years ago, where we started by supporting one family: a newly widowed young lady and her children. Slowly but steadily as contributions grew, we began to bring our vision to life and extended this help to even more families. We are currently supporting more than 70 needy families.

This worthy cause is close to my heart since I spent my formative years in Punjab, where I witnessed some of these struggles first-hand. As an adult I have been a frequent visitor back to my ancestral village and have seen the difficulties become worse over the years as the cost of living has risen. This has made me passionate about working hard to help widowed families become self-sufficient by eradicating the struggle for everyday necessities.

Our mission and vision are very clear: to provide vulnerable widows and their children with dignity by providing for their basic needs and helping them to become self-sufficient.

The OWS UK is a non-profit making organisation. Our work is only made possible if you, the donor, show great empathy and generosity towards this noble cause, by consistently donating money.

Your donation will help in ongoing welfare issues such as food, health, education & clothing.

We are achieving this by providing regular monthly support to qualifying widows and orphans.

This charity can only achieve its goals with the assistance of regular generous donations coming from caring members of society, such as yourself. Without these donations, serving the needy widows and orphans would not be possible.

We are reaching out to you to make a difference by making a regular donation as a show of commitment to support our cause. These donations may come in the form of a DD, SO, debit card, credit card, or via Paypal.

Single one-off donations are also welcome.

Once again we thank you and ask for your support and generosity.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr Nadeem Afzal
Chairman
The OWS UK

Our Team

Babar Salim

Treasurer / Secretary

Haroon Salim

Charity Operations Advisor

Soheal Malik

Legal advisor