Somalis, Palestinians, Afghans rebuild lives in Hungary - Feature

Bicske, Hungary (Earth Times - dpa) - It may seem an unlikely destination for migrants from war-torn or poverty-stricken countries, but many have chosen to make their new beginnings in Hungary. Daud, a 22-year-old from Somalia, would love to return home some day. For now, he lives at a refugee reception center in Bicske, Hungary, a small town about 30 kilometers west of Budapest.

"I would like to go back, if there was a new government, if it was stable and safe. I think everyone wants that," Daud told the German Press Agency dpa.

In December 2008, Daud left Somalia for Turkey with three friends. From there, he traveled by bus and on foot for 15 days before being picked up by guards somewhere along the Hungarian border.

Bicske, with its rolling hills and vineyards, is today Daud's home. Autumn leaves swirl between the flat-roofed, single-storey concrete houses. Laundry billows in the wind on clotheslines outside the buildings. A couple of laughing Palestinian children trundle past on plastic tricycles, and a few people stand by doorways. Otherwise it is quiet.

Like all the residents, Daud has been granted asylum in Hungary.

Daud has been in Hungary for six months and seven days. He's in charge of the Bicske center's popular internet room and hopes to one day get a job in information technology.

"I have to like it here, I live in Hungary now," he says.

The Bicske reception center can accommodate 464 refugees but is less than half full. According to the Hungarian Office of Nationality and Immigration, 160 refugees were granted asylum in 2008, while 3,118 fresh claims were made.

A six- to 12-month stay in Bicske is the last stage in the process of settling refugees in Hungary. Residents are given Hungarian language lessons, help in finding employment and financial support when they find work and leave the center to set up a home.

Currently, most of the residents are from Afghanistan and Somalia, but there are also Palestinians, Georgians, Armenians and Iranians, among others, says Erika Kiss, who leads a team of five social workers at the center.

"How quickly people integrate is not related to their nationality but more on their level of education. Some people are illiterate," Kiss explains.

Apart from regular language lessons, a school, sports facilities and a well-equipped medical center, there is psychological support for those traumatized by the events and experiences that caused them to flee their homelands.

Although the entrance is manned by a guard, residents are free to come and go as they please. However, with monthly allowances of just 7,125 forints (about 39 dollars), there is little opportunity to stray too far.

Mohammed first came to Hungary in 2001 from Morocco. He was finally granted asylum in 2007 and now helps out at the center, translating between French, Arabic, English and Hungarian.

"Hungarian people are very friendly, more friendly than in Morocco," he says. "Only the language was difficult. It took me more than three years to learn."

In fact, fiendishly complex Hungarian - unrelated to any other in Europe, bar distant cousins Finnish and Estonian - is the first thing that all the residents complained about.

Meals are provided in a canteen three times a day, but many families prefer to cook for themselves in the small kitchenettes of the residential blocks.

Sitting in the room she has shared with her three daughters since May, Celine speaks of her husband's escape from the Democratic Republic of Congo. After months of anxiety, she received an unexpected phone call from Hungary - her husband had been granted asylum.

"I was born in Congo, I grew up in Congo," she says. "I knew nothing about Hungary."

Celine used the last of her money to travel to Kenya, where the Hungarian embassy in Nairobi provided the visa that allowed her and the children to follow her husband.

While Celine seems unsure about her family's future, her 12-year- old daughter, Clemence, says she just wants to move to Budapest, where she can go to a normal school.

Some European Union countries, notably Italy, have recently called for the burden of housing asylum-seekers to be shared. The European Commission has produced plans for a voluntary migrant resettlement program.

In today's 27-member EU, it could be that other, smaller, less prominent countries like Hungary will increasingly be asked to provide homes for those who have nowhere else to go.