A woman who hasn’t eaten, or even had a glass of water, since she was 10 years old has been tested by numerous medics in her home country and abroad – none of them can explain her condition
Audience Writer
- 18:05, 10 MAY 2024
Never miss any of the fun stuff. Get the biggest stories and wackiest takes from the Daily Star, including our special WTF Wednesday
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info
In a remote region of Ethiopia lives a woman who claims she hasn’t eaten or drunk anything in more than 16 years.
Muluwork Ambaw says she suddenly stopped needing to eat or drink when she was a ten-year-old girl, and clearly remembers the last thing she ate – a red lentil stew.
Adventurer Drew Binsky travelled to Ethiopia to meet with Muluwork and ask her one simple question: “Is it true?”
He finally found her village and noticed straight away that her house is far larger and more secure than all of her neighbours’, situated in a high-walled compound.
75.2K
Gogglebox: Ellie says she was a victim of a Taylor Swift scam
For more fascinating glimpses into extraordinary lives, check out the Daily Star’s Real Life section
“Stepping into Muluwork’s living room is like entering another world,” Drew says. “There are posters on the walls and a variety of antiques that make it feel like we’re stuck in a time capsule of her childhood.”
Despite the size and sophistication of her house, the toilet is a simple hole in the ground. Muluwork says she never uses it, but her daughter and her sister do. Muluwork spends much of her free time gardening and grows plenty of vegetables in case she has visitors.
She likes cooking, she says, but never gets hungry herself. She explains that her strange 16-year fast began suddenly.
“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 for any food.”
Muluwork has been examined by doctors in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. After three years of tests, they said she was in perfect health, but they noted that there was no food, water or waste products in her digestive tract – suggesting that she had no “need to urinate or defecate”.
She says she has also seen doctors in Dubai and Qatar who tested her mental health, but they could find nothing wrong with her.