Jeremy Vreeken-Staff Writer

Dordt seniors Justin Gloudemans and Jayson Korthuis have been recognised by MarCom Awards for their work on a short documentary filmed in Mozambique, Africa last year.

MarCom Awards is a creative competition for any individual or company involved in the concept, writing and design of print, visual, audio and web materials and programs. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

Korthuis and Gloudemans won a Gold MarCom award for a their film called Communities of Fusion: Mozambique.  The film was a 13 minute documentary about the work that is being done by several mission organizations located in Nampula, Mozambique.

The work being done by missions organizations in Nampula consists of several broiler and layer chicken farms, a feed coop, a school, an agricultural college, a church, and more.  All these organization work together, and have coined the term “communities of fusion”.

“Basically, the goal is to transform the lives of local people physically, economically, socially, mentally, and spiritually,” said Korthuis about the mission work covered the documentary, “It’s a very holistic approach to mission work, and they reach a lot of people, teaching them how to farm, giving them an education, and sharing the gospel.”

The mission work in Mozambique is connected to Dordt through Center Fresh Eggs, which is located here in Sioux Center.  Center Fresh has contributed to the chicken farms in Mozambique.

Gloudemans and Korthuis were studying at  Daystar University in Kenya.  Dordt College digital media professor Mark Volkers was originally asked by Center Fresh Eggs to make the film. Because Gloudemans and Korthuis were already in Africa, Volkers asked them to fly down to Mozambique over a long weekend to make the film.

“It was a whirlwind, in which we only had an iPhone, a GoPro, and one of Dordt’s cameras, but we made it work,” said Korthuis. This past spring, when they were back at Dordt, the footage was revisited and edited together.

Korthuis and Gloudemans were part of only 20% of 6000 applicants chosen by MarCom to receive awards. The award does not come with any sort of direct financial reward, but aids in creating positive publicity for the mission work itself, for Center Fresh Eggs and for the Dordt College digital media program.

“Winning an award is encouraging, but it makes us want to continue making films and continue learning how to do it better,” said Korthuis.