Dan Eldon

Dan posing for the camera (http://www.daneldon.org/about/introduction/ (Unknown))

Do you know who Dan Eldon is?If you do, do you know what Dan Eldon did to earn his recognition? Dan Eldon was a young man that changed all of Africa with his photos. Mr. Eldon made it his life to make a difference ever since his family moved to Kenya. He changed the world and depends on the person to decided whether or not Dan's changes were huge or small.

Dan Eldon was born in London in 1970, to Kathy and Mike Eldon. Mike is British man and while his mother is an American journalist. In 1974 Amy was born, and three years later his family moved to Nairobi Kenya. At Kenya, Dan attended a British school where he was developed a "school phobia" after being attacked too many times by a math teacher armed with a sneaker. His parents had him transferred to International School of Kenya, which was attended by students representing 46 nationalities. Eldon enjoyed activities as staying in a Maasai village, a trip to exotic Arab island of Lamu or climbing Mt. Kenya. His friends consisted of Lengai Croze, and Lara Leakey. These three went on many adventures in the gorge behind Croze house. Early on Dan joined his mother on her journalist assignments and this start him to take pictures.

Dan's first mission to effect affect Africa was when he was 14 years old, when he started a fund-raiser campaign with his sister for open heart-surgery to save Atieno. They raised $5,000 dollars but the hospital neglected Atieno which resulted in her death. A year later Dan helped support a Maasai family by buying their hand-made jewelry and selling it at school. During the rest of Dan's high school years he held many charity fund-raising dances in Mkebe, which was a large tin shed in his backyard. When Dan graduated from International School of Kenya in 1988 he won the International Relations and Community Service Award and most outstanding in his class. At college Dan set up yet another fundraiser when he transferred to University of California, Los Angeles, which ended up being called Student Transport Aid. In 1992 Dan Eldon shot some of his first pictures in Somalia which touched the hearts of millions. The international news agency, Reuters, and hired Dan to work for them, shooting the increasingly desperate situation in Somalia. Over the time that Dan spent in MoIn 1993 Dan had enough of recording the violence going but agreed to stay and cover the unfolding events of the UN. On July 12, 1993 Dan Eldon and colleagues raced across Mogadishu to cover a bombing and in the confusion all the four young men were beaten, clubbed and stoned to death.

Dan Eldon with a Cheetah (http://www.daneldon.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploa (Unknown))

Dan's family found solace in his thousands of photographs and in his journals. In 17 scrapbooks Mr. Eldon had created meticulous collages of the adventures and passions of his teenage and young adult years into a man who saw his camera work as a quest for justice. Months after Eldon's death his mother return to the pages thinking '"What can I do to transform this horror into something that would honor Dan's legacy?"'. After she lugged his journals to a series of publishers, she found one - Chronicle Books - that was willing to transform his journals into a book. The journals were published in 1997 into a book titled " The Journey is the Destination", more than 200,000 copies were printed. That same year Amy, his sister decided she needed to stare down the darkness she was facing by visiting the scene of her brother's death in Mogadishu. She filmed a documentary called "Dying to Tell the Story", of her visits to Mogadishu and she interviewed journalists who had worked with him. A year later Kathy and Amy Eldon founded the Creative Visions Foundation to provide support to activists " who use media, the arts and technology to inform, inspire and empower others." In December 2005 Kathy agreed to let Lisa Candela (a photographer who had been " struck by Mr. Eldon's work) organized a small show of pages in New Work. Candela took 350 rolls of Dan Eldon's film from his father, Mike who had divorced Kathy and lived in Kenya and spent the next few months scanning each journal and photograph. In September 2006 Ms. Candela planned to hang some prints in a small private show and invite some friends, but a one-night exhibition in a space above the former site of the Tunnel, drew 1,400 people. Candela and Decker spent the spring and summer renovating a gallery on Crosby Street in SoGo and opened their exhibition on November 1 (Remembering My Brother Dan Eldon: A Journalist Who Died to Tell a Story)

Dan Eldon's work not only affected his life but everyone in Somalia, his family, and all of the world. He dedicated his life to helping those in Africa and with that he gave his life. All Dan did his life was start fundraisers for those in need and initiated the international aid towards starving villages in Africa. He impacted Africa and the world with his work through a camera's lens. Dan's family tried to preserve his honor by starting organizations, creating films and giving aid to those who also wanted to preserve his memory and work. Now after all this do you believe that Dan Eldon is a hero?

Poem to Dan Eldon:

Photos leaked from the depths of Africa-

Taken by a young photographer-

showing the horrors of hunger in Africa-

Photos leaked from the depths of Africa -

Taken by a young photographer-

With a mission to change the conditions of Africa-

Photos leaked from the depths of Africa-

Taken by a young photographer- whose death came from the people he helped-

Photos leaked from the depths of Africa- Taken by a young photographer-

Whose death was not in vain- Whose death brought sorrow -

Whose work brought food to Africa's hunger-

Whose work open the eyes of the world-

to that they did not believe-

Photos leaked from the depths of Africa-

Taken by Dan Eldon