If you are all done packing for your trip to Africa, here's something you can do with your free time: pierce your teammates ears!
Items you need:
One impulsive racer: Cabe
Someone with a steady hand: Lindsey
Ice for numbing- hard to come by in most countries other than America, but we were living with Americans, so we were lucky.
Fire, peroxide, antibacterial hand wipes or something to sterilize with. We used all three because it's all we had.
Sewing needle from your travel sewing kit.
Ball of toilet paper or something to put behind the ears so you know if the needle goes through. This is a terrible idea so maybe use something better than we did.
Studs. We didn't have this, but Tenille had some pretty little gold earrings to use. Trust me, it was MUCH better than Cabe's choice for earrings.
Pen to mark the holes on the lobes.
First have the patient lay down. We don't know why we did this, but it worked. Mark where you will pierce first to see if you like the location of the earrings. Use some ice on the lobes for numbing.
Sterilize the needle and earrings. With a firm hand, pierce the needle through the lobe until it goes through to the other side. Keep pushing no matter how gross it seems.
You may discover that when you pull the needle out, blood will begin to gush out. Good luck putting the earrings in the newly formed holes. But work quickly because the holes will close up fast. Check the back of the lobe to make sure you are pressing in straight. You may hear a loud pop when you push the earrings through.
Aftercare – clean the lobes and twist the earrings every day. Hopefully you have something like peroxide. If not, hopefully your host family will find out what you just did and give you something for your impulsiveness.
Pray that Cabe keeps his lobes clean in Africa!
