About me, Vlad [Mad]
Hello, I’m Vlad [Mad], founder of the Takoda Wahya community.
I was born in the northern Chilean desert in the 1970s. The proximity to Peru and Bolivia, the country from which part of my Native American ancestry originates, broadened my worldview from a young age. The linguistic variations, the food, the landscapes, and the customs of each people awakened in me a deep desire to learn about other cultures.
My maternal grandparents owned a bookstore where I immersed myself in Jules Verne and so many other classics. My imagination grew with stories of distant origins and mysterious lands.
As an adult, I studied Psychology for a couple of years before embarking on my first big trip to Santiago, without yet knowing that travel would become the very essence of my existence. There I studied Hispanic Literature and Linguistics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC), and then traveled the length and breadth of Chile, financing my journeys in a variety of ways: hitchhiking, odd jobs, teaching computer literacy to people with limited resources, among dozens of other occupations. This is how I learned about people’s innate solidarity and that wisdom can be found in the most unexpected places.
The journey continued through Latin America: Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, and then Europe: Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland, where I met much of my father’s family for the first time. All these experiences have shaped my perception of the world, nature, and human behavior.
Why this community, Takoda Wahya
We are social animals: we thrive in community, through cooperation and coordination. Yet, paradoxically, modern societies suffer a progressive isolation of their members, exacerbated by social networks and platforms that bombard us with stimuli to keep us hooked. The internet of free thought is giving way to that of consumerism and manufactured consensus, generating an unprecedented crisis of belonging and self-worth.
Over the years, I’ve participated in communities focused on gaming, politics, conservation, and more, made up of wonderful and generous people. But almost all of them share the same shortcoming: they focus on only one area of human activity. What makes them strong… makes them weak at the same time.
Takoda Wahya was born out of this need. It’s a melting pot where we can talk about everything, always with the necessary respect, to build upon existing ideas, disagree, grow, learn, and teach. A space that reflects the true complexity of our interests, because we care about so many things at once.
My vision for this community
This project has been a long-held dream and is therefore very dear to me. Although I’ve poured a lot of myself into it, the goal is for it to be enriched by the contributions of each member. Takoda Wahya has a life of its own and will evolve in ways I can’t even foresee.
That has been and continues to be my vision of life: constant personal learning that, in turn, fosters continuous improvement in those around us.
See you in the community, where you can count on my support and attention.
With sincere affection,
