During the December 2022 Commencement ceremony, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMU) awarded Jeff Rogers an honorary doctorate of philanthropy and humanitarianism, the highest award the institution can bestow, with admiration for the extraordinary impact he has made on underserved communities in Africa.
For over 30 years, Rogers has worked to develop successful sustainable initiatives for rural communities in Zimbabwe and Malawi, providing much-needed resources in the fields of healthcare, access to clean water, vocational training, orphan care, and agricultural advancements.
Rogers’ passion for service began with a humanitarian trip to Haiti in 1981, where he and a team worked to build a health clinic for the struggling community. The following year, Rogers aided in constructing two additional medical clinics in the Dominican Republic and another in Kenya in 1983.
In 1987, Rogers co-founded Child Legacy International (CLI), formerly Life Sowing Ministries, a non-profit organization based in Africa whose mission is to “transform lives by providing opportunities that break the generational cycle of poverty and despair.”
Jeff Rogers has made an incredible impact on the rural communities of Zimbabwe and Malawi by constructing various rural health clinics, two hospitals, an orphanage, five churches, and one of the largest vocational training schools in southeast Zimbabwe. The organization has repaired over 4,900 broken water pumps providing clean water to over 9.5 million people.
CLI agricultural projects have resulted in the planting of over 22,000 bamboo plants and 13,000 macadamia trees, providing firewood to much of the 87% of the population living without electricity. A multi-pond aquaculture program has brought 3.5 million native fish back to the region, providing food for needy community members.
At the CLI hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi, Rogers has worked with experts to develop off-grid, sustainable energy for the facility and has implemented local food production for the hospital resulting in 300 acres of productive farmland.
Even more than the lives Rogers’ efforts have changed, are the lives he has saved. The labor and infant delivery services provided at the hospitals in Zimbabwe and Malawi have successfully delivered 12,500 babies without a single maternal death, a tragic, yet common occurrence for pregnant mothers in these rural areas who lack access to healthcare services.
Rogers’ efforts with CLI have been praised by public figures such as Mike Pence and Marilyn Musgraves, and publicly endorsed by various entertainers including Andraé Crouch.
Richard Nielsen, PT, DHSC, ECS, Founding President and CEO of RMU, said, “Roger’s selfless efforts have saved lives and improved the health and longevity of tens of thousands. He is recognized by many as a hero for the healthcare he quietly and unassumingly provides to the multitudes in Africa at no cost. He is the epitome of a servant leader.”
Rogers has received various letters from national and local leaders in Zimbabwe and Malawi expressing gratitude for the services he has provided to their regions.
“In my 35 years of humanitarian and charitable foundation work in Africa, I have been exposed to a multitude of humanitarians that have changed the course for thousands of indigent people in Africa,” Nielsen said. “But none have taken humanitarian service – selfless service – to the heights that Jeff Rogers has. He has demonstrated through decades of selfless service to humanity his worthiness to be recognized at this level and to receive this prestigious award.”
