Morris Darbo is the founder and director of the Joan C Orr Academy. Morris is a teacher and social worker by training and has run many educational intiatives in Liberia. He and his team have educated many thousands of children about humane treatment of animals and care for the environment. Morris believes that a change in the culture of the country away from abusive treatment of animals and people, towards humane treatment (particularly for women and children) will come only through the education of children first. He has proven his organizational and management skills through the Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society. This organization has grown to include many volunteers and paid staff who adminster and deliver its many programs. These include Animal Kindness Clubs in schools, free veterinary and rabies clinics in Liberia and now in neigboring countries as well, training of veterinary workers at the university level, community garden and vegan food programs, protection of wild parrots, anti-dog eating and anti-bush meat campaigns, education of children in Guinea about care of working animals and veterinary clinics in Guinea to relieve the suffering of working animals.

The Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society is a partner of Animal Kind International. Read this first hand account from Karen Menczer about her in-person visits to Liberia to meet Morris and see LAWCS programs in action.

When the Ebola crisis hit LIberia with devastating effects on the adult population, Morris rose to the challenge and his teams began going to underserved communities in deplorable conditions to bring bleach, soap, buckets and education on hygiene to prevent the further spread of this deadly disease. Morris partnered with A Well Fed World to provide emergency food and to promote community food gardening to help feed starving people during the Ebola Crisis.

Morris is well respected in the international human education community and he and his team have won several awards. Morris has been invited to speak at international conferences and his influence has spread beyond the borders of Lberia.

From 2019-2022 Morris acted as the Project Manager Liberia for VETS UNITED where he was responsible for the programming, monitoring and financial oversight of a project with the goals that animal health and welfare programme will be taught in every institution in the country doing animal related programmes. Secondly, animal health and welfare programme will be prioritized in the country so that every section of the country will have trained and practicing animal health and welfare personnel.

As a result of his standing in the community and his skills as an educator, organizer and administator, Morris was asked to join Humane Society International as its Country Director, Liberia. In this role, Morris led HSI’s program development and its efforts to improve animal welfare in Liberia by establishing relationships with high-level stakeholders in the country. Morris held this position from 2017-2022 when HSI closed the Liberia main office. He is a member of the Rabies Technical Working Group of Liberia, as well as the Species Working Group. He also serves as an animal welfare focal point at the World Organisation for Animal Health for Liberia.

Morris is an exemplary role model and his contribution to improve the welfare of women, children and animals is exceptional. His dream for the Joan C Orr Academy is that it will give kids the best possible education, that it will take kids all the way through highschool and that it will be able to offer adult eduction in the evenings for adult women so that they too can rise out of poverty.

Morris in the Media

Humane Society International Partners with FDA to Combating Wildlife Crime in Liberia

Humane Society International Seeks Protection For wildlife In Liberia

Liberia: Humane Society International Launches ‘Feed And Treat’ Exercise For Domestic Animals in Charlesville

Liberian Association Pushes For Animal Welfare Laws in Liberia

Urgent pan-Africa action plan launched by PASA to stop illegal chimpanzee trade as sanctuaries reach crisis capacity

HSI says Treat Domestic Animals Well

In Liberia, children and animals come together in joy and kindness

Video: Youth Engagement for Animal Welfare in Liberia

Humane Society Int’l, FDA combat crime against Wildlife

URGENT PAN-AFRICA ACTION PLAN LAUNCHED BY PASA TO STOP ILLEGAL CHIMPANZEE TRADE AS SANCTUARIES REACH CRISIS CAPACITY

Joan Orr is a scientist and internationally recognized clicker trainer. Along with Theresa McKeon, Joan is one of the co-founders of TAGteach International, a company that promotes the application of marker-based positive reinforcement training for humans. Joan was a member of the Karen Pryor Clickertraining Clicker Expo Faculty for 9 years and content creator and advisor to the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior. She is a pioneer in the field of clicker training rabbits and co-author of a book on the subject. Joan and Teresa Lewin are co-founders of Doggone Crazy Inc, a company dedicated to dog bite prevention through education. They created the board game Doggone Crazy!, the “Doggie Detective” bite prevention education program for elementary school children and the Clicker Puppy training DVD. 

Joan along with Teresa Lewin confounded the international non-profit Doggone Safe, dedication to the prevention of dog bites. Through this organization over 2000 presenters educated over 1 million children around the world about dog body language and how to act safely around dogs. Morris Darbo and his volunteers at the Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society were presenters of the "Be a Tree" program, now renamed "Doggie Detective". Joan and Teresa became well regarded in the international humane education community and the dog training community. They have published many articles and have won many awards for their work. Joan and Teresa are no longer associated with Doggone Safe. 

It was through these connections with the international humane education community that Joan was able to support Morris and to recommend him for various grants and awards. Because of his many acheivements Morris has become a leader in the field in his own right.

Most recently Joan has teamed up with behavior analyst Ryan O’Donnell to put on the semi-annual conference: The Convergence of Human & Animal Training and Technology.

View the legal documents for the school

The school was named after Joan to honor her for her contribution to improving the lives of children and animals in Liberia through her unwavering support and promotion of the work of Morris Darbo and the Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society. It's very diffucult to gain credibility when you come from one of the poorest country in Africa. It's similarly diffult to raise funds since even if people want to donate there are very limited options for transferring funds to Liberia. Joan has helped Morris and the Liberia Anima Welfare Society since 2012 by providing education materials for download at no cost, assisting with grant proposals, providing letters of reference, talking with potential grant-makers to assure them of Morris's credibility and collecting and passing on donated funds to support his educational programs.

Donated funds are collected by the company Doggone Crazy, which is owned by Joan Orr. The funds are transferred to Morris Darbo at the Joan C Orr Academy without any additional admin fees. The only fees are those charged by PayPal, Western Union and any currency conversion fees. The maximum possible amount of your donation goes directly to the school. There are no admin fees paid to school directors. The donation money is used for teacher and staff salaries, school physical needs and classroom materials only.

This is the only cost-effective way to transfer donations to the school. PayPal and other online payment processors do not work in Liberia. Most banks will not do wire transfers to Liberian banks. We use Western Union to transfer the funds as this is the only reliable company that offers this service in Liberia.

Funds raised through GoFundMe are also transferred directly to Morris Darbo for use at the school. No administration fees are taken except for whatever is taken by GoFundMe before the funds are released.