Meet Muluwork, The Ethiopian Woman Who Hasn't Eaten For 16 Years

Meet Muluwork, the Ethiopian woman who hasn’t eaten for 16 years

Muluwork was born in Ethiopia and is based in the country’s capital Addis Ababa. The 26-year-old’s story is one that has gone viral with many raising questions about the possibility of a 16-year fast without dire implications.

It all started at age 10 when she decided to stay away from eating because she had no appetite for food. It’s a gift, she told the Guinness World Record holder for the fastest time to pack a suitcase Drew Binsky.

“I used to live with my family, and they asked me to eat breakfast and go to school. I said I had eaten but I was pretending. I had lost my appetite for water or any food," she said.

Muluwork is a hard worker, she cooks for her family and loves gardening. Her garden is full of various vegetables which she nurtures for her sister’s use and anyone else in the village who will ask to use or visitors.

For someone who doesn’t eat, Muluwork cooks very well and brews tea and coffee but drinks none of those.

Her last meal was the Ethiopian staple Injira, a sour fermented pancake-like flatbread that is eaten with lentil soup and that was before the age of 10.

After years of medical tests in Addis Ababa and three other countries, Dubai, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, Muluwork has been declared fit but her story remains unfathomable and a miracle.

“They have tested me for a week and they have even questioned my mental status, they taught I was I was crazy,” she was quoted.

Some of her hospital trips were sponsored by the prime minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed who had before this, gifted her a house.

Even more surprising is that Muluwork has a daughter who was born during her fast. The baby had to be infused with a lot of glucose to make up for the lost food and she came out fine. As a result of her inability to eat or drink, she had no breast milk and had to feed the baby with artificial milk.

The Ethiopian national does not use the bathrooms unless she has to take a bath.

She believes through her faith that this is an extraordinary gift from God.

“I’m an orthodox Christian, I go to church, I’m supposed to drink that but I don’t even drink that,” she said.