Dan Eldon

Dan Eldon was born in London on September 18th, 1970, and from a very early age displayed signs of an excellent sense of humor. When Dan was seven years old, he and his three-year-old sister Amy moved to Nairobi, Kenya with their parents, Kathy and Mike Eldon. His most vivid early memory of Kenya was a confrontation with a baboon who snatched his chocolate mousse and scratched Dan’s arm, leaving him with a healthy respect for baboons and a craving for chocolate mousse.
In Kenya, Dan attended a British school where he developed a “schoolphobia” after being attacked too many times by a vicious math teacher, armed with a sneaker. He convinced his parents to transfer him to the International School of Kenya, attended by students representing 46 nationalities. There he blossomed, particularly enjoying such activities as staying in a Maasai village, a trip to the exotic Arab island of Lamu off the coast of Kenya, and climbing Mt. Kenya.
Dan was lucky to have many Kenyan friends, including Lengai Croze, who took him for many adventures in the gorge behind his home. Another friend was Lara Leakey, granddaughter of anthropologist Louis Leakey, who discovered many of the most ancient human ancestral bones in the world. Both Lengai and Lara lived next to the Nairobi Game Park, and were used to nightly visits from rhino, leopard, giraffe and lion.
In 1982, Dan narrowly missed being caught up in the coup in Kenya, but he was around to experience the aftermath of that political upheaval. Early on, he joined his journalist mother on her assignments, and soon was taking pictures, which were used in the local newspapers.
Dan started helping others from a young age. When he was 14, he started a fund-raising campaign for open-heart surgery to save the life of Atieno, a young Kenyan girl. Together with his sister and friends, he raised $5,000 but due to neglect by the hospital Atieno died.
When Dan was 15, he helped support a Maasai family buy buying their hand-made jewelry, later selling it to fellow students and friends. It was during this time that he started to create journals: fat, bulging books filled with collages, photographs and whimsical drawings. He often used satire and cartoons to comment on what he saw around him, but kept the journals as very personal statements, which he shared with only a few people.
During Dan’s high school years, he held many charity fund-raising dances in the “Mkebe,” a large tin shed in the backyard of the Eldon home. There, scores of students gathered, paying an entrance fee, which went towards Dan’s latest charity. Always looking for a way to raise funds, he also produced colorful tee shirts of his own design, and even launched a collection of brightly printed boxer shorts.
Dan graduated from the International School of Kenya in 1988, winning the International Relations and Community Service awards, as well as being voted most outstanding student by his classmates. He addressed his class, emphasizing in importance of crossing cultural barriers and caring for others.
Throughout his life, Dan was fortunate in being able to travel extensively, and had visited 46 countries by the time of his death. In addition, he studied seven languages in school and out of it. He returned nearly every summer to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, home of his grandparents, Russell and Louise Knapp. From the age of 8 to 18, Dan attended Camp Wapsi in Central City, Iowa, where he learned about Native Americans.