Hungary has 4 permanent refugee camps at the moment (Bicske, Debrecen, Nagyfa and Vámosszabadi). After the migrant crisis we were wondering how a refugee camp looks like in Hungary and why most of the asylum seekers would rather overnight under the open sky, than in one of these facilities. After several unsuccessful attempts to get a permission to enter one of the camps, we decided to go “unofficially”. We chose Bicske, an open camp with 350 people capacity, only a 30 minute drive west from Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

Reading some articles about the poor conditions, we arrived expecting a horrible, neglected and lousy environment. Surprisingly, however, the circumstances were not inhumane or cruel at all. In fact, the buildings seemed to be in proper condition, the road is neat and well taken care of. The whole area reminded us of a cheaper, low-category dormitory, even WiFi connection was available. There were many trees inside, which made the milieu very pleasant. Some of the applicants were cleaning the sidewalk when we arrived.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t go inside without an official approval but we had the opportunity to talk to some of the asylum seekers outside the camp. They willingly answered all our questions. Most of the refugees came from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kosovo and, as they told us, the main reason they had left was bad financial circumstances at home, some of them referred to war and terrorism as well. Interestingly enough, only a few of these people planned to stay in Hungary. Most of them wanted to obtain refugee status and papers here so that they could cross the borders legally and freely as they continue their flight to Western Europe.  

When we asked them about the circumstances inside the camp, they told us the camp was not packed at all, at most a hundred people resided there, the accommodations were mostly satisfying, but they found the food unpleasant and tasteless. They would have preferred to get money instead of food. 

Though the immigration office didn't provide any information, we can provide some details about the inner life of the camp based on the respondents' answers. There are different sections within the camp: special division for families, another for single men and a separated house for single women. At that time of our visit, there were only two single women.
Near the camp there is a shopping market, where they can buy food for the money their relatives send them.
During our visit, four men, wearing traditional islamic dresses, came by a rented car, arranged something with the camp leaders and some of the immigrants through the fence and then left. It was quite an odd thing, as we really didn't expect muslims coming from the outside.

It's also interesting to note, that the ones we talked to, were mostly single men, only three of them said they had families in their country of origin or waiting in refugee camps in Turkey. 

What we saw at Bicske was the complete opposite of the image conveyed by the Western media about the Hungarian refugee supply system.