Dechen Doma Sherpa was told that she was a Sherpa so she had to prove that she's a Nepali. Yes, you are reading this correctly.

With a passport that had visa to come to the U.S  in hand, she was stopped at the airport in Kathmandu and was asked to prove that she is a Nepali citizen. In usual circumstances, a passport is proof enough. But, she had her citizenship book also, which she produced, and that was not enough either. And then the demand of Rs. 150,000 came, for her to get the 'right paperwork', so that she can travel. 

For any young person, who may not have travelled before to a foreign land, to go alone is in itself a nerve wrecking proposition. Add on that a corrupted goverment official, misusing his authority, who denies you to travel, despite having everything needed as per the goverment's rules. Imagine you haven't seen your loved one(s) for years, and finally everything has been sorted out for you to get to see him/her, after years of longing, and then you had to miss your flight, run around collecting cash to give to this corrupted scum of the earth, so that with his permission, you can leave. 

This happened to a young Dechen Doma Sherpa when she wasn't allowed to board her flight by this despicable man named Purna Bahadur Basnet at Tribhuwan International Airport. Dechen did have the presence of mind to record much of the conversation with her cell phone - both audio and video, when she could. You can listen and see much of the heinous crime on this ABC News video broadcasted in Nepal. 

Among many things, what struck me most was this conversatin between Dechen and this bastard Purna. 

Dechen: So, like me, when husbands bring us (aborad), others who legally travel go through this hardship?

Purna: Yes.

And don't we know that.