Devastated by being driven out of his home by mobs from an opposing ethnic group, Joseph set his heart on revenge.

Twice in one year, Joseph Wainaina, one of the Kikuyu people of Kenya, was driven out of his home by mobs from an opposing ethnic group, the Kalenjins. Devastated by these experiences, and by the loss of everything he had worked for, Wainaina set his heart on revenge.

He planned to go to Uganda to buy guns and to train some Kikuyus to fight back. He needed money and decided to ask for a loan from a friend, without revealing what it was for. The friend was not so easy to fool. 'He saw the bitterness I had on my face, and asked if I hated the Kalenjins. I tried to say no, but he could see.'

Wainaina told his friend what he had been planning. 'I could not stop my tears because I felt God was speaking to me.' As a result of this encounter he found the inner strength to forgive those responsible for the attacks on his village, as well as to let go of his bitter attitude towards Kalenjins in general. In 1995 he resigned from his job with the Ministry of the Environment to work full-time with projects of reconciliation.