When vulnerable people need support, there’s always room at the Devai Inn, a community centre run by the Budapest-Józsefváros Lutheran Congregation, a partner of UNHCR. “Our mission is to give complex help to newcomers and as a local community, to reinforce our Christian values of welcoming strangers,” says its leader, Pastor Marta Bolba.
Based in a former factory, that used to produce orthopaedic aids in the past, in a Budapest backstreet, the centre has 5,000 registered beneficiaries, including 600 in need of cash and housing assistance. Fourteen paid professional staff and an army of volunteers work with the newcomers, who are mainly, although not exclusively, refugees from Ukraine.
In 2022, when war broke out in Ukraine, the church found its main help centre in Budapest’s 8th district overwhelmed, so it opened a new branch to cope with the extra demand.
Devai Inn offers a range of services and activities from Hungarian and English language courses to art therapy and clubs for teenagers, young mothers and older people wanting tea and conversation. At lunchtime, free hot meals are provided. At Christmas, Santa Claus visits the children.
