Connection: Spokane Cares

Doing business in Romania remains difficult, but few in the country seriously believe they were better off under communism, said a Spokane executive for a Washington company that has worked in Romania since 1993.

“Things are not good, and they have a long way to go,” said Marlin Statema, vice president of Resource Development International. “But it was terrible just before communism fell. There was starvation on a large scale.”

RDI builds metal structures, from homes to grain storage facilities. It also operates a seed processing plant in Braila, a city of about 300,000 in southeastern Romania.

The government promised in 1996 to be pro-business and encourage foreign investment. Instead, it has levied high taxes on businesses, Statema said.

Spokane-area residents still care about Romania, he said. Stories in The Spokesman-Review in 1997 about conditions in that country’s orphanages brought an outpouring of money, supplies and volunteer workers that continues.

The government orphanages continue to be “an absolute disaster,” Statema said, but groups from other countries are setting up private orphanages.

RDI is near completion of a new orphanage in Braila for the International Assistance Program, a Spokane-based Christian charity.

Keith Davis, executive director and founder of the program, said the orphanage will house 24 children at the end of the month, and 96 children when the last phase is completed.

IAP operates another orphanage in Romania and helps coordinate offers of assistance from the Inland Northwest. Doctors and medical technicians from local hospitals and clinics and dentists have made trips to Romania in the last year, and Northwest Medical Teams, which is based in Portland, continues to send groups to the country.

“There’s a definite interest in Romania,” Davis said.