Public health boss goes on the run from quarantine hotel to raise £19k for Malawi charity
TRAVELLING TO Malawi to visit a secondary school he and his wife set up in 2004, Jason Strelitz was among those caught up in the chaos following the discovery of the Omicron variant.
With Malawi added to the UK’s red list, the New North London Synagogue member — and director of public health in Newham — had to stay in a quarantine hotel on his return to the UK.
For 11 days, the view from his window was a Heathrow runway.
But making the best of the situation, he used his permitted 20 minutes a day of outdoor time to run stress-busting laps of the hotel car park, raising more than £19,000 for his charity, Masambiro, which supports education in Malawi.
A keen runner, and two-time London Marathon participant, Mr Strelitz completed over four kilometres a day.
He told the JC that although the quarantine experience was “not pleasant” and he missed his family, “because my work was busy and I had
this marathon challenge, it could have been a lot harder”.
And the charitable pursuit had given meaning to his enforced stay.
However, the car park course was not the most user friendly.
“Each run involved going in a circle about 60 to 70 times.
“[It was] really quite boring and also it didn’t feel totally comfortable in the legs because you’re constantly turning.
“Give me a run along Hampstead Heath or somewhere else any day of the week.”
Mr Strelitz and his wife, Mandy Wilkins, founded the volunteer-run charity after a honeymoon trip to Malawi.
Their school has 500 places and a number of pupils have gone on to university.
“We fundraise in the UK for all the infrastructure costs,” he explained. “There’s no free secondary education in Malawi so what we provide is a lot of bursaries to ensure that all kids in the community can go to the school.”