Madeira Diaspora South Africa is recruiting a Padrinhos team, and the way in is an email, not a form. The non-profit, registered in South Africa this year, already runs a women's league called the Madrinhas, and anyone willing to take the next part on is asked to write to info@madeiradiasporasa.co.za.
The Committee Is Five Names, and Funchal Knows One of Them
MDSA is a registered non-profit company, number 2026/788342/08, and its purpose sits in one line at the top of every page: preserving Madeiran culture in South Africa. Five people sit on the committee: Victor Gomes, Antonio Franco, Jose Quintino, Damasceno Canha and Paulo de Freitas.
Gomes is the name that travels. He is the conselheiro for the Madeiran Communities in South Africa, he sits on the Conselho da Diáspora Madeirense, and on 26 October he hosted a PSD-Madeira delegation that came to discuss community safety and the missing direct flight to Portugal, as Diário de Notícias da Madeira reported. MDSA gives that a front door: a website where anyone can join, list a business or ask for help.
Padrinhos Are Being Recruited by Email, Not by Form
The Madrinhas came first. MDSA describes a madrinha as the godmother who keeps the family together, and the league is open to the women of the community, free to join for now. Its form asks how you would like to help: sewing and embroidery, making caps and apparel, selling at events, or organising them.
The padrinhos, the godfathers, are the part being built now, and the invitation on the MDSA website is open: write to info@madeiradiasporasa.co.za with a proposal and a motivation. There is no sign-up form for it yet, as there is for the Madrinhas, so whoever writes in with a workable plan will shape what the team does.
Free Classifieds, a Jobs Board and a Business Directory
Most of what MDSA runs is practical and free. Bless It Forward passes pre-loved things between members. The classifieds are free, with contact details kept private. Find Staff, Find a Job and Upload Your CV connect community businesses with people looking for work. Singers, folk dance groups and MCs can be booked through the site for festas and weddings.
Membership is voluntary at any amount, once-off or monthly, and brings free classifieds and 10% off the merchandise. A directory listing costs whatever a business decides to pay until 31 December 2026. The merchandise is still on its way: a polo shirt and a crochet sling bag at R500 each, a cap at R250. First on the calendar is Amigos da Rota, a road trip to White River on 12–14 February 2027.
Funchal Has Been Asking for Exactly This
The Declaração do Funchal 2026, signed by the Conselho da Diáspora Madeirense in July, reads like a brief for what MDSA is building: a strategy for the communities, better data on who and where they are, more promotion of the language and culture, and a real effort to pull younger descendants back to the island. MDSA has a Young Adults group for that last one. 1 July, after all, is not only Madeira Day but the Day of the Region and of the Madeiran Communities.
If your family name left a village here and ended up in Johannesburg, Pretoria or Cape Town, that email address is the shortest way back into the family.
