A Legacy of Education, Nature, and Conservation in Sumatra
Wilson Manik (1953-2025)
The Wilson Manik Memorial Scholarship is a named memorial scholarship established through the Sumatra Orangutan Caring Scholarship (OCS) Program, a collaboration between the Orang Utan Republik Foundation (OURF) and the Orangutan Information Center (OIC)—OURF’s original local partner when the scholarship program was founded nearly 20 years ago.
This scholarship honors Wilson Manik’s love of education, the natural world, and his deep personal connection to Sumatra, including time spent exploring the forests of Gunung Leuser National Park.
Wilson Manik and his family
The children of Wilson Manik requested that OURF establish a memorial scholarship in honor of their father, a man originally from Samosir, North Sumatra, who had a deep love of nature, education, and the forests of Sumatra. The family visited the Gunung Leuser area together, and they feel strongly about supporting Indonesian students as part of his legacy.
The inaugural Wilson Manik Memorial Scholarship was awarded on July 3, 2026, to Kartini Silitonga during the Sumatran Orangutan Caring Scholarship ceremony in Medan, North Sumatra. Kartini is a first-year forestry student at the University of North Sumatra. She expressed her pride and gratitude upon receiving this special honor and pledged to work diligently to uphold Wilson’s legacy through her studies and future contributions to forest and orangutan conservation.