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FARMER-FOOD-SERVICE-COMMUNITY-WELLBEING
“The journey toward the heart is always a journey Home."
A little bit about my background.
I was born in the military base hospital in Lucknow, a large city in northern India and the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
I was born to two wonderful, loving, and doting parents who instilled in me the core personal values, morals, principles, and beliefs that define who I am to this very day.
My Dad was of Burmese descent and my Mum, Indian descent.
They were highly educated, self-driven, self-motivated, intelligent, hardworking, and extremely unassuming people.
Their features are embedded in this heart of mine.
As this journey of mine evolves, I feel I am becoming more and more like my dear Dad. To see me is to know and see him too.
My early childhood years were spent in New Delhi, India’s capital city, where my parents had studied and worked very hard to establish their respective careers.
My Mum started her career in the airline industry, and then she went into hospitality, working for one of India’s top hotels, the Taj Group of Hotels, a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company which was incorporated by the founder of the Tata Group.
The Tata Group is one of India’s largest business conglomerates. Using her vast experience and expertise in hospitality, she transitioned to one of the world’s leading banks.
My Dad was a mechanical engineer. Many years later (Mothers’ Day, 8th May 2022 to be precise) I would come to learn that my beloved and revered father worked for one of the world’s largest farming equipment companies, Escorts Limited.
Escorts has played a pivotal role in the agricultural growth of India for over five decades.
Dad was in the Ford tractor division at Escorts, working to serve and support India’s agriculture sector. He spent four years at Escorts, eventually leaving it and all he had worked so very hard to achieve very early in his career. He left it all behind and started in a new country, supporting his wife and family.
(Little do people know, including my parents and friends, that I have always been intrigued by the workings of engines and machinery: hydraulics, planes, trains, automobiles, bores … the list is long.)
I have also been interested in how machines contribute to the land and help our farmers put food on our tables. At the beginning of my journey, I had no idea that my beloved Dad’s legacy would forge an intrinsic connection with me.)
Learning all of these things over three years (on Mother’s Day 2022) into my predestined new life journey was a profound moment for me, considering the connection I have built with agricultural communities in Australia.
And it just cemented the belief that I was meant for the ways of this new life, and that Dad was with me every step.
I have inherited his selflessness.
"If there is light in your heart you will find your way Home."
Rumi.
FARMER-FOOD-SERVICE-COMMUNITY-WELLBEING.
“The journey toward the heart is always a journey Home."
How this new Journey came about: As shared in my Book UNTOLD TRUTHS.. A journey to A 'Will of Courage'.
Selina Win Pe is of proud Indian-Burmese heritage, and she is ‘most proud’ to be called ‘Australian.’
She moved to Australia at the age of nine years.
However, her connection to Australia dates back to her maternal grandfather who served in World War Two as a highly awarded Brigadier in the Indian Army, and was captured as a Prisoner of War and saved by our incredible, honourable, and brave Aussie Diggers.
Selina is her beloved ‘father’s daughter’ to the absolute core. She is driven by his loving memory, and the adoration she has for both her parents who taught her about strength, courage, resilience, and tenacity.
Selina grew into a strong, loving, confident, and determined young woman who once had the world at her feet, a blossoming professional career, representing some of the world’s leading financial services brands, and she was well travelled.’
But then, tragedy struck. It was beyond Selina’s comprehension.
On December 15-16, 2014, the Lindt Café siege, at Sydney’s Martin Place, occurred over seventeen terrifying hours. Three lives were lost:
Tori Johnson, Katrina Dawson, and a lone gunman.
Selina was the longest held of eighteen hostages. The impact of the ordeal continues to impact her life. Grateful to have survived ‘the life-altering experience’ she has since embarked on a journey of healing, and she has invested deeply in her mental health, wellbeing, and self-care.
Selina commenced her journey on March 9th, 2019. She had no preconceived ideas or plans. However, she had a deep desire to help others.
She began by reaching out and connecting first-hand with the kind-hearted, welcoming, country mayors with whom she established warm and meaningful friendships right across her home state of NSW.
She found herself in safe communities whose values aligned with her own.
In country people and their surrounds, she found ‘home’ slowly regaining her confidence, sense of safety and trust.
Her new-found connections to Australian farming communities, and her deep respect and admiration for our farmers, is at the very heart of her mission to help bring communities from all spectrums and places together.
In doing so, she has invested countless hours, and reached deep into her own pocket.
In 2020, Selina widened her advocacy to ‘support local.’ She continues to promote our invaluable interconnected small business communities, and their essential roles in the lifecycle of our foods, and she is passionate about spreading the word that it is the responsibility of all of us to sustain the longevity of Australian farming.
Selina’s love for her country is obvious.
Her memoir is dedicated to the journey she has singlehandedly conceived, created, and built from absolutely nothing. She is not sponsored by any business, nor has asked anything of anyone, except for giving their strength and support.
She carries all her communities as symbols and marks of respect that connect her journey, and they are all embraced by her as being members of her ‘extended family’ who help to keep her safe.
Her focus on her mental health and wellbeing, and her trust in those who provide her medical and psychological care, remain critical to her ongoing recovery.
With her endless capacity to love, Selina will continue to expand her travel and enlarge her ‘family’ as she reaches across Australia from 2023, into 2024. 2024 & beyond.
And as she does, Selina will continue to grow from her experiences.
