Do your ears hang low?

The Maasai people have a variety of styles of earlobes. You may have seen them in magazines. They pierce their ears with hot metal sticks and stretch the skin of their ears with pegs, then use jewelry to weigh them down. Unfortunately, a high number of them end up with tetanus from this procedure. I have seen younger Maasai women with beaded earrings that are connected under the chin by several beaded strands. Many older Maasai have quite lengthy earlobes and have long forgone decoration to embellish them.

While on my second night of call last Wednesday, the intern Sanaa and I admitted a sick older woman who was accompanied by her son. They only spoke Maasai, so we had three-way translation--Maasai to Swahili to English. As we took her history, I noticed that her son’s ears were unusually shaped. They were misshapen at the bottom, almost like the earlobe was missing, and there was a large slug of skin hanging in front of his ear. I glanced at Sanaa and mouthed, “What’s with his ears?!?” She mouthed back, “They’re flipped around from back to front. He knows we’re talking about his ears!” The man and I then made eye contact, and he gave me a knowing look.

While we examined the patient, her son stepped out in the hallway to give her privacy. While checking her over, I realized that I needed the pulse oximeter from the intensive care unit next door. I ran out into the hallway, and there was her son leaning against the wall. He had unhooked his long earlobe which draped down almost to his shoulder. He fondled the lobe and smirked at me. Recognizing the face of a man who had an agenda, I hurried down the hallway.

“Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie ‘em in a knot? Can you tie ‘em in a bow? Can you throw ‘em over your shoulder like a continental soldier? Do your ears hang low?”

This song now has new meaning for me.