At 14, with his sister and friends, Eldon raised $5,000 in a fundraising campaign for a young Kenyan girl, Atieno, to have heart surgery.
Around this time Eldon began creating personal journals filled with collages, photographs, and drawings, often using satire and cartoons as commentary.
Team members included Christopher Nolan, Roko Belic, Elinor Tatum, Jeffrey Gettleman, and Eldon's sister Amy.
He spent the summer in Marrakesh, then came home to ship $5,000 worth of goods to America, which he sold on the beaches of Southern California.
"[6][7] On 12 July 1993, an event occurred known to the Somalis as Bloody Monday in which Eldon, German Associated Press photographer Hansi Krauss, Kenyan Reuters sound technician Anthony Macharia,[8] and Kenyan Reuters photographer Hos Maina[9] were murdered following a United States airstrike on a gathering of top clan leaders of the Habr Gidr.
Some witnesses and former US officials later stated that the raid accidentally hit a meeting of clan elders who were hoping to pressure Aidid into peace, a claim denied by the US Army.
[11] As they began to take photographs, Eldon, Krauss, Macharia and Maina were attacked by a mob and stoned and beaten to death.
"[11] It was announced in The New York Times on 28 December 2007 that Eldon would be the subject of a biographical film, The Journey Is the Destination, the title of which was taken from a page of his journals that was released under the same name by Chronicle Books.
The film was directed by Bronwen Hughes and produced by Martin Katz, Kathy Eldon, Richard Arlook and Kweku Mandela, and was shot in South Africa from July to September 2014.