 What's up, everybody? Welcome back to SPM Buzz. My good name is Ms. Kithingi and today I am hanging out with a star. But before I introduce her, guys, make sure you subscribe to SPM Buzz. I mean, we are bringing you the best of the best of this content across the globe. Kindly make sure you leave a subscribe. You know, just subscribe. Leave us a subscription. That's what I meant. Now guys, I'm hanging out with a star and I am hanging out with Chef Malihah Mohammed. Super chef. Hi, chef. Hi, how are you doing? Good. Thank you. How are you feeling? How are you feeling? I'm feeling very good. I'm feeling very good. I'm going to ask you if you have any questions. Yeah, what do you mean? We're talking about SGN, the KF 430 in Nairobi. Uh huh. AM. What? Wow, it was a freezer. I mean, for sure in the morning, it was cold. It was so cold, yeah. Did you get a chance to go home? Have you rested? Uh, no, you see, even as we speak, I'm doing training as well. So, I've not slept in, right now it is almost 41 hours. Oh, let me ask you now. Let's get into this, guys. In case you don't know Chef Malihah, I don't know why. Because she is a Guinness World Record holder in, of course, being a chef and cooking for the longest hours. But, so now, this is how the training happens. So, you not only just train when you're cooking, but you train to stay awake. Yeah, you need to train yourself because it starts with your mental state. And also, we are tackling the physical aspect as well. For the past three years, I've been staying low away from social media because when the pandemic, sorry, when the pandemic hit in 2020, I lost two of my aunties and two of my uncles. I lost my job of five years. And I found myself back in square one. What am I going to do? I lost my zeal. I lost my moral, my motivation. Everything came crashing down. And again, a number of weight. And now, when I'm doing this marathon, I'm also taking care of my physical aspect as well. Because of the stamina and the endurance of standing for long hours, I need to take care of my body as well and also my mind. Yeah. Is there any, like, special foods that you're eating just to help you in this training? Yeah. Of course, you have to cut down on so many carbs. Mombasa. Cicituna, penasana, viasivia, karai, bajia, sambusak, atlases. It's every corner of Mombasa, there is a karai being cooked. So now, I stay away from those corners. Yeah, because you get so tempted. And people, they know you are Chef Balia. I'm bringing it for you at home. And you sample it out. And you know, tell me how you, how, how's the taste, you know. You evade them, but they're still there. Yeah. Also self-control. Exactly, self-control. So my kids are enjoying more than me. I have a test years, but my kids are enjoying more. For sure. But now, also let me ask, how did you get into knowing, you know, now trying to cook for long hours? Is it something you always looked forward to do? What was the inspiration? I was working for an NGO company, a 9 to 5 job. And I loved the job. Because now I was cooking for 100 employees on a daily basis. So I loved it. But then my boss told me that, you know, I don't want you to hinder yourself in this kitchen. And if you want to fly, I give you the space and just fly. Go and find your calling. Just do whatever makes you you. So I said, okay, my boss is giving me this motivation and encouragement. Let me try and see what I can do. So you know, YouTube has been my school. So during my lunch break, I was going to YouTube and it just came an American chef in California. He cooked for 68 hours nonstop and broke the Guinness World Record. I never knew what Guinness World Record was all about. We only knew that, you know, our marathon runners, they're breaking records. But in cooking, I was like, yes, I'm going to do it. Yeah. So I went to their website and applied for 2019 for the longest cooking hours for 75 hours, which they had accepted via email. And yeah, I was so happy for that. And I started training. Come August 2019, I did break the record. But on September 2019, an Indian chef from Mumbai called Chef Lata, she cooked for 87 hours. Now she broke my record. And in December 2019, she was verified. I was not verified. I did successfully attempt to break and I did break it. But Guinness World Record could not verify me. But how come? Because I saw, you know, they even came for the supervision. How come they weren't able to verify you? I mean, even for those few months. We hired witnesses to come, individual witnesses. We hired typekeepers also. We hired health officers because they had to be present while I'm cooking because they need to know that this food can be consumed by humans. And there's no wastage of food because they're very strict on that Guinness World Record. So yeah, I was, I could not be verified also because of the fundings as well. Because now I send my application very late. By the time it's reached Guinness World Record, Chef Lata has already smashed my record. And then 2020 Corona came. Yeah. So now when you saw Hila in Nigeria doing it the other day, what motivation did it give you? You see, in December 2022, I did apply for Guinness World Record, but for two record breaking attempts. So the first one was the longest home kitchen cooking marathon. And the record to break was an American record of 68. So I did for, say, five hours. So that would be relieving 2019. And then I set another record for the longest cooking marathon as an individual. I set for 100 hours. Then I went and told my family and my friends like, hey, I just sent my application for 100 hours. They say, you're suicidal. You are crazy. You want to die. Who's going to take care of your kids? Are you abnormal? Guinness World Record is not paying you. You're still going to be that broke chef. You are famous, but broke. So those are the words. But I told them, you know what? It takes Guinness World Record three months for them to accept your application. If they will accept my application, over thousands and thousands of applications sent to them every month, this is my calling. So this is what God is telling me, don't give up. And yes, February 2023, Guinness World Record responded through email and they said, we have accepted your application. My training started. Then come Ramadan. I told, okay, now Ramadan is time for spirituality. Let me connect to God. Let me ask God for help because now I'm all alone. I don't have sponsors. I don't have a team. I need God prayers to come through for me. Then out of nowhere after Ramadan is Mother's Day, my DMs were going crazy. My screenshots, you know, the small clips. Heal the buzz, heal the buzz, heal the buzz. I was like, what's happening? So I went to YouTube and I saw her. She was cooking at her 87 hours. They were celebrating because she managed to cook 87 hours to break the Indian chef. And now her target was 96. So she did hit the 96 hours. And then she decided with her family and her friends and her supporters, she will do for 100 hours. And then here I am. I already had self-doubt in myself because I applied in December for 100 hours. And that doubt creeped into me. Then when God showed me that somebody did for 100 hours, you can do for 100 plus hours. So I went to Guinness World Record. I talked to my records manager team and I explained to them. They told me that, you know what, we need to verify her. She's not yet verified. So to take three months for us to verify her, but what you can do is you edit your application of the longest cooking marathon as an individual, which I did. So I did for 100 plus hours. I have to wait for Hilda Basi to be verified, which if she wins for Nigeria, she wins for Africa. If I win for Kenya, I win for Africa as well. So the sky is big enough to accommodate all the stars. Even as Sudanese chef will come, Canadian chef will come. Let them come. It is even if a Kenyan chef tells me like, oh, Chef Maliha, come 2024. I want to break your record. Why not? Break my record. It is okay. Yeah. But watch out. I'll break yours. You will. Absolutely. We are waiting for that. Now, Chef, with all these criticism and people telling you you can't, what keeps you moving? What keeps you still wanting to do this, despite all those comments? My daughters, my two daughters, they're looking up to me. They want to see what am I going to do. So that keeps me motivated and encourages me. And I tell myself, you know, I cannot let them down. I cannot let my community down. I cannot let the women in Kenya and the world, I cannot let them down. I will do no matter what. I will lose the weight. I will work hard on myself. And come August, there'll be a transformation. You see when a butterfly, when you see a butterfly, you look at it with awe and amazement. But nobody knows the process from the lava to the pupa. Nobody knows the process. We just see the butterfly. The butterfly has beautiful colors. But the process, nobody knows about it. Exactly. Yeah. Wow. I mean, that is so, you know, very confident of you. And we can't really wait to see what you do. Now you see 2019, social media wasn't as big as it is right now. That makes sense when you know some people didn't actually know that you broke that record at the time. And like now, do you feel any pressure because now people are going to be knowing more about it? That is even why we're here today, sitting down and talking to people. Do you feel any sort of pressure to represent your country? There is pressure without a doubt. But that keeps me going on. Because now I know people, they know who I am. People, they know what I'm capable of. There are people who underestimate me, but then I'm here to tell them, you know what? We are all born for greatness. Yeah. And this is my calling. This is my God-given right. And I will embrace it no matter what. Yeah. Is there any trait or characteristic that you feel that you own that sets you apart to, you know, to represent this particular category and just go ahead and do it? Because I mean, it's not everyone who can do this. I think it's that right attitude. When you have the right attitude, then you can achieve anything. But once you tell yourself that, ah, Missy-Wazy, procrastinating, you know, taking what people are saying and then you're listening to those words, you need to have a very good attitude and telling yourself, you know what? Yeah. I'm going to do this no matter what obstacle will come through my way. I'm just going to smash. Yeah. You will. You will. It's just about the belief you will for sure. Now, of course, we have seen what you're doing and, you know, people have been inspired. Is there people that you can say that you've actually just led the way and shown them what to do and they've actually gotten the skills and you're proud of them? I have chefs from Kenya whom I look up to and also an international chef. So those international are Chef Gordon Ramsay, Chef Anthony Bourdain, Chef Jason Howard. And in Kenya, I have Chef Benjamin Nyaga, Chef Alimandri, Chef Cabuz, and also we have Chef Poster of Travelers. And there are so many other chefs that, you know, when they see me, they tell me that go and represent us. We have you back. Go and represent us. So it gives me, okay, you know, as a chef, there are so many males who are doing it more than women because now percentage is high. It's a male dominant career. So now when a woman arises out of nowhere, they're like, damn, this woman can do it for long hours. She's standing and cooking and producing delicious meal. Not only those who, the line cooks, they get, you know, a hard time with their shares. Like, you know, this lady is cooking for 12 hours. You are here for eight hours and you are complaining. Yeah, things like that. Yeah. When I'm talking to you, it's just to commend your work and why you've been so surprised. I'm Chef Cabuz of Mombasa. He's been my biggest supporter. When I'm cooking, he will always show up. He'll tell me, okay, Chef Mali, I'm coming to see you and I'm coming to support you. He will give a shout out as well. Whenever he goes, he will tell people, you know, Chef Mali is doing something. So with that, I am so humbled and I truly appreciate it because there are people who know you, they acknowledge you and they want to give the best they can for you. Yeah. I'm recently, I talked to two of them. One was the only lead boy. And another one was Stevo. Stevo that I've forgotten his name. It's like an influencer. Stevo, something. Yeah, something like, oh my God, I hope he will not be angry. But Stevo, yeah. Yes, ah. They give a shout out to their social media page, yeah. And also one, only lead boy, he came and surprised me in Mombasa, all the way from there, yeah. So it was, I've never been surprised. So with that, I was like, oh, okay. And the confetti came to my face, oh, yeah, but it's so worth it, you know, yeah. How you balance it, you know, just taking care of your kids now and you know, this training that is taking a lot of your time and your mental health, how are you going about it? What I do is that I prioritize and I organize myself. Every Sunday is family time. So if somebody calls me, I look at the phone. I'm like, is it okay to take this phone or not? Sorry. And on Monday is me time. When it is me time, I switch off my phones, except my cabam before my brand manager. She will kill me if I switch off my phone. Yeah, so Mondays are me time. Then Tuesday to Saturday, it's game time. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, but Sundays is for my family and Mondays is for me. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ha, ha, pole, pole. But really, you could never be. Now, as we wind up, you could listen. You know, the people that are willing to support you, I would like to know, what do you need? Because when you have someone to support everything at a go, exclusively, what is it that you need for this training all the way to the competition? For this training, we need ingredients, meats, poultry, veggies. Also, we need people from the IT department because we need to produce photographic evidence and videographic evidence. And you know, we need to have good cameras that can take some five hours nonstop and good cameras. They can actually take good photos because everything has to be sent to them via evidence through software. Also, I need to have branded t-shirts. I need to organize the food to be taken to the orphanage as well. So delivery as well is important. Hiring, sorry. My throat is dry. Hiring of... Hiring of staff as well. Those who are going to come in and help me throughout the process. You know, their fares have to take care of them as well. Yeah. Okay. Guys, in case you can support in anything, please reach out to Chef Maliha. So that she can keep on keeping the flag of Kenya very high. Where can they get you? They can get me through my phone number, my M-Person number, 0706 349 213, my social media handles, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Chef Maliha Muhammad, also my YouTube channel. Yes. Okay, Maliha. We wish you all the very best. To talk more about what you're doing in 2020, when are we likely to... When are you doing this? We have a second training on 16th June, that training July 14th and the main event on August 11th and the grand finale on November 15th, where I will come to Nairobi to do it. We are waiting for all those and we are going to be there cheering you on. Please keep on. And the naysayers will watch you in Yuma. Yeah. Thank you so much. All right, guys. That was Chef Maliha Muhammad right here on Buzz with Stars, the SPM Buzz. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you leave a comment down below on the comment section. You can support Maliha Ajiye. Are you going to share her page on social platforms? Are you going to tell people to support her? Make sure you do that. Thank you so much for watching. My good name is Ms. Kethinci. Until next time, keep it at SPM Buzz.