Banchory woman Sandra Golightly, who set up Deeside Aid Romania Trust (Dart) in 2002, helped collect almost £2,000 to buy a piece of land to build a children's camp that would give some of the country's poorest youngsters the chance of a holiday.
But following a dispute with a Romanian church group, which bought the site on behalf of the charity two years ago, Mrs Golightly fears the camp may never go ahead.
The Aletheia Church in Timisoara used £1,700 donated to Dart by North-east residents to purchase the land and a further £800 to create a well, but Dart claims it has failed to uphold an agreement to register the site in both the names of the church and Dart. The Romanian group is now claiming ownership of the land, which is understood to have trebled in value, and work on the camp has still not started.
Mrs Golightly has called in a Romanian lawyer to try and resolve the situation.
But the affair has left her feeling betrayed and "heart broken" by the actions of people she had come to regard as friends and she revealed she is considering ending her involvement in Romania.
The church "turned its back" on Dart earlier this year, she said, after she questioned the length of time it was taking to start work on the camp. Leaders of the church did not reply to her emails and when she travelled back out to Romania in August to find out what the situation was, they refused to meet her.
Mrs Golightly is now threatening to take the church to court unless building work begins on the camp by September 1 next year.
In a letter to Dan Mioc, one of the pastors at the church, Dart's Romanian lawyer stressed that if the church wanted to go ahead with the project with another partner, Dart would not seek its money back.
Darts's lawyer Monica Margine said: "This very generous offer is not for the sake of Aletheia Church, whose behaviour over this matter has been quite reprehensible, but for the children who may or may not benefit from the camp."
Mrs Golightly has now given the church a deadline of September 1, 2007 for the work to begin. The church had claimed that Dart had gifted them the land, but this is not the case said Mrs Golightly.
"If Dart had in fact gifted the land to Aletheia we would have had to make an official document stating this to comply with our charity's records. No such document exists," she said.
She also claims the church failed to fulfil an agreement to transfer the land into both the names of the church and Dart to "safeguard exactly the situation which has now appeared to have arisen – that is, Aletheia assuming claim on the land".
Mrs Golightly added: "I cannot begin to tell you how upset I am about this whole situation, which seems to have grown out of all proportion.
"Obviously there is much more going on behind the scenes than we are aware of but this does not make our rejection any easier."
Two North-east volunteers who travelled out to Romania with Dart claimed the church was failing to distribute hundreds of parcels of aid which were delivered by lorry to the country every year.
One of the women, who asked not to be named, said three large generators had been provided by a North-east businessman to help provide electricity to the poor. But when they visited the village, she said the generators were nowhere to be seen and was told by one of the pastors that they were being stored in the church attic.
In an email to Romanian pastor Lucien Chis, Mrs Golightly also refers to generators, stating: "They were donated to Dart by a local businessman who asked that they be put to 'good and proper use'. I do not consider sitting about in Aletheia Church for over 14 months to be 'good and proper use'. Mrs Golightly, however, stressed there was no proof that aid was not being delivered.
Following the dispute with the church, which was helping to hand out the goods, however, she said she would not be accepting any more donations at present.
She said: "Blythswood Care (which transports the aid from the UK to Romania) is taking a load of Dart's Christmas boxes out to Romania in December. However, Dart can no longer accept donations of normal aid, clothing, bedding, etc. This consignment will be the last for the foreseeable future."
Mrs Golightly stressed "the situation was through no fault of her own". But she said she had a responsibility to the people who donated to the charity and is doing all she can to ensure all the money is used for the use it was intended.
In an e-mail to Dart on September 20, Mr Chis states: "I don't want to break a relationship or to create problems to you or your organisation because of money.
"All the past years I worked with you or your other people I respected Romanian law, I was honest and ready to be accountable to the sponsors. And I'll continue to work that way. Please give my thanks to the supporters and the wonderful Scottish people and I'll keep you informed."
Dart has been well supported in the Deeside area and further afield since it was founded in 2002. Mrs Golightly started the charity after visiting some of the poorest areas in Romania with another charity. Since then she has been collecting aid and raising money to help provide a better quality of life for the country's poorest children and their families.
She added: "I cannot thank all those who have supported us enough. People have been so kind and I'd like to remind them the need is still there."