Die kameel is ‘n wonderlike ding….

Hoekom is my naam Kameel? Vir die dood eenvoudige rede dat ‘n kameel my idee van humor is. Daardie gesig, die hooghartige houding, en dik wimpers laat my innerlik glimlag. Wat sal ek nie gee vir sulke wimpers nie…. sug. Ken het by ons kerk in die JOY tydskrif ‘n artikel rondom ‘n kameel gelees, en my daarvan kom vertel. By die kerkkantoor was hulle so gaaf om vir my ‘n afskrif van die artikel te maak. Ek het dit gate uit geniet, en besluit om die artikel met julle te deel. Die volgende dan uit die bek van die kameel….

THE AMAZING CAMEL AND IT’S CREATOR

If you ever doubted that God exists, meet the very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel:

When I’m hungry, I’ll eat almost anything – a leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master’s tent, or a pair of shoes. My mouth is so tough; a thorny cactus doesn’t bother it. I love to chow grass and other plants that grow here on the Arabian Desert. I’m a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind that lives on hot deserts in the Middle-East… My hump, all 36 kilos of it, is filled with fat – my body fuel – not water, as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew that I wouldn’t always be able to find food as I travel across the hot sands. When I don’t find any food, my body automatically takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, and keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply.

Camels are water conservers

If I can’t find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again, my hump soon builds back to normal. Iv’e been known to drink one hundred litres of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that in a matter of minutes, all the water I’ve swallowed travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh. Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach. There, thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty ten minutes after I’ve drank 100 litres. In an eight-hour day, I can carry a 180 kilogram load, 160 kilometres across a hot, dry desert, and not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I’ve been known to go eight days without a drink, but then I look like a wreck. I lose 100 kilograms, my ribs show through my skin, and I look terribly skinny. But I feel great!! I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. They’re no longer fat. They’re flat.

Camels store water in their blood

Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours. But when I can’t find any water to drink, the heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood. Scientists have found that my blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water, and I’m still healthy. Doctors say that human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water. If you lose 5 percent of it, you can’t see anymore; 10 percent, you can’t hear and you go insane; 12 percent and your blood is as thick as molasses and your heart can’t pump the thick stuff – it stops, and you’re dead. But that’s not true with me. Why? Scientists say that my blood is different. My red cells are elongated. Yours are round. Maybe that’s what makes the difference. This proves I’m designed for the desert, or the desert is designed for me. Did you ever hear of a design without a designer?

Camel’s noses convert air moisture to water

After I find a water hole, I’ll drink for about ten minutes and my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don’t look skinny anymore. And I gain back the 100 kilograms that I lost. Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert, my body conserves it too. Way in the beginning when my intelligent Engineer made me, He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don’t lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs and absorbs it in my nasal membranes. Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. How’s that for a recycling system? It works because my nose is cool. My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air from my lungs into water. But how does my nose get cool? I breathe in hot dry desert air, and it goes through my wet nasal passages. This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 7 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.

Designed for sandstorm and deserts

I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It’s really quite easy, because my Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them. Each foot has two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between my soles, my feet are a little like webbed feet. They won’t let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him 160 kilometres across the desert in just one day. (I troop about 16 km per hour.) Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe. My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper.

Some people think I’m conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air. But that’s just because of the way I’m made. My eyebrows are so thick and bushy; I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I’m glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.

Camels are extremely resourceful

Desert people depend on me for many things. Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I’m also their grocery store. Female camels give very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year and that can be woven into cloth. A few young camels are used for beef. For a long time, we camels have been called the “ships of the desert” because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick. I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My “left, right left, right” motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways. When I was six months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The Intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 450 kilograms to the ground. If I didn’t have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected. And I could never lie down, I’d die of exhaustion. By the way, I don’t get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very Great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes. It’s real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I’m very technical, highly engineered, dromedary camel. Things like me don’t just happen – Iv’e been very well planned out! All glory to God.