FLAG - TIGRAY STATE

This flag belonged to Tesfay Werata who grew up in the town of Maichew, which is located in the State of Tigray in Ehiopia. Tesfay's mother ran a coffee producing busines, a cafe and a small pop up shop in the town. In c1997 Tesfay's mother passed away. Around this time Tesfay and his three siblings migrated to Melbourne, Australia.
In 2005 Tesfay returned to Tigray to visit family. It was during this time that he aquired this flag. While there he met Maarenet who was from Perth, a year later they were married and living in Perth. Tesfay worked as a taxi driver for eight years before spending two years looking after their four children while Maarenet finished her studies and worked. In 2018 he purchased his own coffee truck and two years later opened M & T Cafe in Camillo. Coffe plays a big part in Tesfay and his families life. It links his to his Ethiopian heritage, his family and memories of his mother.
According to the Ethiopian Government, "the State of Tigray is located at the northern tip of the country. The region shares common borders with Eritrea in the north, the State of Afar in the east, the State of Amhara in the south, and the Republic of the Sudan in the west. The capital city is Mekele and has an estimated area of 80,000 square kilometers." Now, what this means from a historical perspective is that Tigray as it exists today since 1975 is itself administratively larger than in previous periods and thus singularly responsible for the vast majority of its non-Tigrayan population. Hence, the ongoing violence. Therefore, the Flag of the Region of Tigray is not a passive item but a politically charged symbol of independance and post-colonial secessionism.