Muluwork Ambaw, a 26-year-old woman living in Ethiopia, claims she has not consumed any food or drink for the past 16 years.
According to Oddity Central, most people would feel hungry after not eating for just a few hours, but Ambaw asserts that she stopped eating when she was 10 years old, after her appetite suddenly disappeared.
Despite not consuming food, Ambaw leads a normal life. She is in good health and has plenty of energy to carry out daily tasks such as cooking and doing various chores.
Muluwork Ambaw. (Photo: YouTube/@drewbinsky).
The young woman has undergone several medical examinations in Ethiopia, but no one has been able to verify if her claims are true. Doctors at a hospital in Addis Ababa confirmed that there was no evidence of food in her intestines at the time of testing.
Ambaw’s case recently attracted media attention after travel blogger Drew Binsky visited Ethiopia and decided to meet her in person. The video from this blogger quickly went viral on social media.
However, this is not the first time Ambaw has been known. Her story first emerged in 2016 when social media circulated information about a girl who could survive without eating. Shortly thereafter, journalists and television reporters flocked to her small village to cover this unusual case.
The 26-year-old woman recalls the last time she enjoyed a meal. Ambaw’s last meal was red lentils served with a traditional Ethiopian dish, after which her appetite vanished. Initially, she lied to her family by saying she had eaten, but eventually, she had to tell them the truth.
Ambaw remembers: “I used to live with my family, and they would ask me to have breakfast before going to school. I said I had eaten, but I was just pretending. I lost the desire to drink or eat anything.”
The young Ethiopian woman insists that because she hasn’t consumed anything in 16 years, she also hasn’t needed to use the restroom during that time. The only time she requires a bathroom is when she takes a shower.
In 2021, Ethiopia’s Borkena news blog reported that the Prime Minister had heard about Ambaw’s claims and arranged for doctors in Dubai to examine her health. In a recent interview with blogger Drew Binsky, the 26-year-old confirmed that the doctors found nothing unusual. However, she did not mention whether they monitored whether she could truly survive without food and water.
“I have nothing to say. That is God’s work, and I accept it,” Ambaw said.
Previously, there have been claims of individuals surviving without food for decades, but Ambaw is one of the few who claims she doesn’t need to drink, which is truly hard to believe. According to Guinness World Records, the longest anyone has survived without food is 18 days, which was a man who was arrested by police and then forgotten.
