Simply known by the name Muluwork, a twenty-six-year-old Ethiopian lady, who says she lost her appetite for eating food at a very young age (when she was a ten year old girl), hasn’t eaten anything in the last 16 years (as at 2024).
Living in the rural settlement of Jimma in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Muluwork, who has never eaten in the last 16 years, nonetheless, leads a normal life. Among other things she works, cooks food for others, and goes where she wants on foot or by other means of transportation. She also socializes, including cooking for a party with a group of people and going to a party
Muluwork who has a daughter said many people always get surprised by her lifestyle especially church members, but that she feels God created her in a unique way. She also says the last bite that “passed her lips” was a red lentils stew with injera, a typical meal in most Ethiopian households when in her tween.
To verify her claim, she received a full physical exam at a hospital in Addis Ababa. Her doctors gave her a clean bill of health, but they noted except for gas, there was no food, water and waste products in her digestive tract – which indicated she didn’t “need to urinate or defecate”. And they advised her to seek further medical examination oversees, in a developed country. She further underwent medical checkup in over three countries abroad including India, Qatar and Dubai, but doctors found her healthy and normal like any other person.
A question that begs to be answered is how she replenishes the water she loses through breathing. Science says “we [humans] typically lose four to nine cups of water per day, through breathing, sweating, peeing and pooping. If we do not drink enough to quench our thirst, the costs can be high. The symptoms of dehydration range from tiredness, headaches and muscle weakness to rapid heartbeat and ultimately loss of consciousness.”
For perspective, science further says that the duration of survival without food is greatly influenced by factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration. For total starvation in healthy individuals receiving adequate hydration, reliable data on survival are hard to obtain. At the age of 74 and already slight of build, Mahatma Gandhi, the famous nonviolent campaigner for India’s independence, survived 21 days of total starvation while only allowing himself sips of water.
Dr. Mike Stroud, a senior lecturer of Medicine and Nutrition at Southampton University, said, “it was possible to survive 60 days without food. That is about the time hunger strikers in prisons tend to die. But they are normally in warmer conditions.”
Muluwork’s assertion is that her body evolved sixteen years ago. Since then, it has been capable of nourishing its own cells without consuming food and water. But still her living soul, which has been both a media and tourist attraction since about 2016, has to work hard to satisfy its other basic needs, including shelter, clothing and social.
