Photo of Kenyan Border Sign Boasts The Birthplace of President Obama- Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
This is a forwarded photo of what appears to be a photograph taken at a Kenyan border sign. The sign says “Welcome to Kenya Birthplace of Barack Obama.”
The Truth:
This sign is a joke done with a computer image manipulation program like PhotoShop.
The letters of the second language on the border sign may resemble letters from the Arabic character set but an Arabic interpreter told TruthOrFiction.com that they are gibberish.
Kenyan Embassy spokesperson told TruthOrFiction.com that English and Swahili are the two official languages in Kenya. The written Swahili language resembles English letters, not Arabic.
Below are a graphic representation of the sign in Arabic for a comparison with the enlarged photo from the forwarded email.
WELCOME TO 
Kenya
Birthplace of Barack Obama
The original photo was taken close to 2,000 miles from Kenya and was posted on the personal website of Jan S. Krogh of Vilnius, Lithuania. Krogh had journaled his visit to the Wilayat Magha territory in the country of Oman.
Original photo by Jan S. Krogh
There are variety of forwarded emails, articles, April Fools jokes and lawsuits rumors that question whether Barack Obama is eligible to be President of the United States based on his natural born status as an American citizen. TruthOrFiction.com has findings posted: Click for more.
updated 02/17/10