It is a common practice here that within a week or two of giving birth to a baby girl, to pierce their ears. As babies are likely to pull out earrings and swallow them or rip holes through their ear lobes, pieces of string are tied through the hole until they are old enough for earrings. While the practice may be a result of the desire for adornment, it also serves the very functional purpose of identifying the sex of the child. Any child without their ears pierced is automatically a boy. Because of head lice and other fun critters, it is common practice for girls and boys to shave their heads, so without earrings and the pre-pubescent lack of breasts, it is hard to know who is who.
Enter my visitor from North America, an agriculture missionary in Cameroon. She just arrived in Cameroon last month and is spending two weeks with us in Gamboula to get her agricultural bearings and to glean ideas from Roy and me. She is very tall, has medium length hair, and is not, currently, wearing earrings. So during her first two days here she has caused quite a stir, as she and I have been wandering around in the gardens, in our sneakers and pants. Most people are convinced she is a man with inappropriately long hair, and when I correct them and inform them she is in fact a woman, the first question they ask is, “why aren’t her ears pierced?”
As few topics of conversation are taboo here, particularly among family members, we discussed and laughed over her dilemma while having lunch with Clarisse and Nadege. The moral of the story is, if you are coming to Central Africa and you plan on wearing pants, be sure your ears are pierced, or else you will be the topic of some very interesting, if not embarrassing, conversations.
