IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Currently we are unable to ship any 3rd party items. The contents of the containers must all be SALFA goods. Please call or e-mail before sending anything to the SOA warehouse for shipment to Madagascar!
The SOA Containers are sea containers that are sent from Minnesota to SALFA Madagascar. They contain mainly medical donations but also SALFA purchases through SOA as well as non-SALFA related goods such as missionary or non-profit organization items. SOA, through its staff of volunteers, coordinates the US end of the containers while SALFA manages the receiving and dispatching of the container and its items in Madagascar. Contrary to a popular misunderstanding, the containers are not MELCAM's (Missionaries of the ELCA in Madagascar), nor does MELCAM manage the receiving and dispatching of container items (other than its own items).
As with all items imported into Madagascar, there are strict laws and regulations for SOA Containers. For additional information, check out customs section in the
SOA Container Shipping Information page.In general, SOA Containers are packing during the Minnesota non-freezing months of Spring to Fall. Once packed, the containers start their long journey to Madagascar: Truck to the U.S. East Coast, across the Atlantic Ocean, change ships somewhere in Europe, across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, down the east coast of Africa to the Great Red Island of Madagascar.
Ocean Freight Shipping Forms are now available on this site. The forms are not yet interactive. For now, please print them (both the shipping form with general information and the inventory form for your individual box information), complete the forms and forward them to Claire Stolee.
If you have any questions regarding containers already sent, please contact Mr.
Lanto (lanto@salfa.org) of the SALFA Supply Service. He has at his disposition the packing lists and other information.