Beloved Kenyan chef and Guinness World Record hopeful Maliha Mohammed has tugged at the nation’s heartstrings after revealing she’s been quietly battling serious financial struggles behind the scenes.
In a raw and emotional Instagram video this week, Maliha confessed that she was on the brink of eviction and urgently needed Sh33,000 to clear her rent.
Fighting back tears, the single mother of two admitted that asking for help wasn’t easy, but it was her only option.
“Hi, Salaam Alaikum. This is Chef Maliha Mohammed. Today I want to be vulnerable with you… things have not been good for me since January,” she said. “I’ve hit rock bottom, and I just need a hand to hold me up.”
For those unfamiliar with her journey, Maliha first captured attention back in 2019 when she cooked non-stop for 90 hours and 15 minutes.
Maliha again made headlines in November 2023 when she attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the Longest Cooking Marathon by an Individual.
However, just as fans were celebrating her feat, devastating news followed. Guinness World Records disqualified Maliha’s attempt over a technicality involving her rest break minutes. In a heartfelt social media post, Maliha broke the news to her supporters.
“It is with much sadness to inform my family, friends, fans, sponsors, followers, and everyone who showed love and support towards my journey in November cooking marathon. Upon my manager’s advice, I have to let you know I was disqualified for 1 error made during my rest break. I am not okay right now. I ask for your forgiveness to have let you all down . It wasn’t easy, but I know God has other plans for me in shaa Allah because what’s meant for you will simply find you,” Maliha announced.
GWR said that the disqualification was as a result of additional minutes that Maliha took, which were not accumulated.
“Unfortunately it’s not permitted to make up rest break as it must only be accumulated. In the interest of fairness across all applicants, we can only approve a record when all the guidelines have been adhered to,” GWR said in an email sent to Maliha.
Maliha had hoped to break the previous record of 119 hours, 57 minutes, and 16 seconds achieved by Alan Fisher (Ireland) in Matsue, Shimane, Japan, from September 28 to October 3, 2023.
Fisher had dethroned Nigeria’s Hilda Baci who cooked for 93 hours, 11 minutes.
Adding to the drama, during the grueling cookathon, Maliha suffered a health scare and briefly fainted, needing emergency medical attention before bravely returning to complete her attempt.
Despite these setbacks, the online community showed up for her this week.
After her tearful video plea went viral, an overwhelming wave of love and support flooded in from well-wishers who rallied to help her clear her rent arrears and restock groceries for her family.
