Sharti ulijibu ombi hili la Kesi katika muda usiozidi siku arobaini (40) za April 13, 2021 bila kuijumuisha tarehe hiyo. Una uhuru wa kuhundhuria vikao vyovyote vya kusikiliza vinavyoathiri zako.
That is just part of a long classified ad that fascinated many readers who came across it in the High Point Enterprise earlier this week – and that left them wondering what the heck was going on. Those who waded through the complex text likely noticed a word or two they knew – such as “April” or “Congo” – however, otherwise, they had no idea what the message said.
While some may have thought the ad was Lorem Ipsum that mistakenly made it into the Enterprise, it is in fact not a meaningless string of letters, but a message in Swahili, one of the languages spoken in the Congo.
The classified ad is actually a legal notice to two named possible fathers of two children as well as to “ANY FATHER UNKNOWN.” The two teenage girls were born in 2004 and 2005 in the Congo and the father has 40 days to contact the Clerk of Superior Court Juvenile Clerk’s Office or parental rights may be terminated.
Careful Enterprise readers may have deduced that the same classified ad ran in English elsewhere on the same page of the paper.
A worker in the High Point Enterprise stated that it is rare for the paper to get classified submissions in foreign languages – especially Swahili – however, it has happened before.
“It may be once a year or so,” she said.
If you believe you may have fathered a child in the Congo in 2004 or 2005, you should call 336-822-6706 and discuss it with them.
