Dan Eldon
by Emily Graham
|
| Dan Eldon with a cheetah in Africa (invisiblechildren.com ()) |
Dan Eldon was born September 18, 1970. He lived most of his life in Kenya, Africa. But he was originally from Hampstead, United Kingdom. He went to school at the International School of Kenya. He was a photographer and a journalist. He was a hero because of how he fundraised for Africa, how he showed that starvation was a problem, and even when he was killed he was killed trying to help Somalian citizens.
|
| Somalian child (burgerfoot.wordpress.com (Dan Eldon)) |
Dan Eldon did a lot of fundraising, even when he was a teenager. His first time fundraising was at age 16. At that point he started a committee for a Kenyan girl to have heart surgery. He started designing shirts and shorts, setting up bake sales, and hosting dances in his backyard all to help raise money. The surgery was a success, yet the girl got malaria and died. A few years later at the age of 19, Eldon and his group raised over $17,000 to help out and benefit survivors of the Mozambique civil war. By the end of their fundraising, the group had donated to the refugees a land cruiser, money for two drinking-water wells, blankets and tools. Dan Eldon was always trying to help people as much as he could, and fundraising was one of the main things he did (Eldon Family).
Dan Eldon was first discovered because of his photography. He kept many journals of his photos that he had taken. In 1992, Eldon and a journalist from the Philadelphia Inquirer went to the town of Baidoa, Somalia to see if it was true that there was a starvation problem. While there, Eldon photographed pictures of starving children who were skeletal looking and many starving men and women. The photographs proved that there was famine in Somalia. Within months later of Eldon's photographing journey, the International Red Cross determined that one fourth of six million Somalis were starving. August 28, the United States began sending over emergency food packages to Somalia. Dan Eldon continued taking photos in Somalia and became very popular. The Somalis elected him the "Mayor of Mogadishu." (Charles Tsai).
Dan Eldon was always trying to help out the people in need, in fact he was even striving to help while he was killed. On July 12, 1993 Eldon was trying to help Somalis escape and get under cover during the United Nations bombing raid. He was killed in an angry mob who were reacting to the raid. Eldon said once before, "The hardest situation to deal with is a frenzied mob, because they cannot be reasoned with." He clearly was right. Even with himself trying to help the people of Somalia, they had killed him while being angry (Wendy Jewell).
Eldon gave his life doing something very brave and very noble. He was killed at a very young age of 22. He was always trying to strive to help others by doing what he loved. What he loved was photography and journalism. With those two things he helped a country in Africa with their famine. To this day, Dan Eldon has many of his journals published, and even a movie about his journeys in Africa. Eldon was a hero because of his fundraising for the needy, the way he showed that famine was a problem in Somalia, and even when he was killed he was still trying to help. Dan Eldon died young but he helped many people in his short life.
Page created on 9/24/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 9/24/2015 12:00:00 AM
The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.
Bibliography
Tsai, Charles. "Young Photographer Exposed Somalia’s Horrors." CNN News. 1997.
Family, Eldon. "Activist." [Online] Available DanEldon.com.
Family, Eldon. "Dan Eldon Biography." [Online] Available DanEldon.com.
Jewell, Wendy. "Dan Eldon." [Online] Available MyHero.com. Jewell.
