Peggy Sagers: "There is a crack in everything.

That is how the light gets in."

This is a quote by today's guest.

I have been remarkably humbled as I read the book "The Power of Days" written by Celeste Mergens.

Celeste was raised by a physically and mentally abusive father, but she labeled the experience "Precious Scars."

She has picked herself up to embark on a journey that has impacted over three million women and girls in 145 countries, on six continents.

How did all this happen?

How does sewing come into the equation?

Join me to hear about this journey today on "Fit 2 Stitch."

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors, ♪♪♪ Reliable Corporation, ♪♪♪ Plano Sewing Center, ♪♪♪ Elliott Berman Textiles, ♪♪♪ Bennos Buttons, ♪♪♪ and Clutch Nails.

♪♪♪ Peggy: I know it's more than me who many of us have said, "Can't we just turn off that TV?

The news is just not what we wanna hear."

But we're going to bring you a story today that is just what we do want to hear.

Celeste Mergens is here today.

She's written a book called "The Power of Days."

And, Celeste, I just wanna tell your story.

I just want everyone to know about it.

I want everyone to understand it and join in if they want to.

Celeste Mergens: Thank you.

That would be amazing.

Peggy: So I wanna, like, talk about the big picture and then work it backwards.

You are working with women all over the world.

Celeste: Women and men all over the world, making a huge difference in a way you would not perhaps guess.

Peggy: So talk to me about what it is-- "The Power of Days" does for women and men.

Celeste: Yeah, Days for Girls helps create menstrual equity-- something that's so taboo everywhere we just don't wanna talk about it.

But it connects us all.

Without periods, there would be no people.

So around the world, there's not only taboo but stigma.

And, importantly, if you don't have what you need for period products, you miss opportunities, health, dignity, education.

Peggy: It is.

I mean, and I went through and read your book because the book is extremely-- I highly recommend it.

It takes it just on such a logical sequence of how it all happened, but I want you to tell that story just for somebody who may not read the book.

Celeste: It started-- the knowledge of it came from Kenya.

A friend had invited me to her foundation's educational program, and we were helping build schools and classrooms, and then we're invited to the slums of Kibera, where I was introduced to an orphanage.

And there I learned-- long story short-- that they were sitting on pieces of cardboard for days during their period, in rooms that had 50-plus girls.

Peggy: So Days for Girls is about menstrual cycles and solving the problem that uneducated, or poor, women have with dealing with those menstrual cycles.

Is that a fair statement?

Celeste: I would say anyone who struggles to get products.

Because what does a foster girl do?

Does she ask her new foster father for pads?

What does a woman that's going to her next job interview and she has to choose between fuel and pads do?

If you are struggling to have what you need, pads sometimes fall to the bottom.

Peggy: So this is worldwide.

Celeste: It is worldwide.

Peggy: It's not just Africa.

Africa developed it, and but yet it's now all over.

Celeste: We've actually reached 145 countries, more than 3.3 million women and girls.

That's how global this issue is.

Peggy: So let's go back to Africa now for a minute.

You're working with an orphanage, and you're doing all kinds of education, working with the girls, but there's been nothing addressed to menstrual cycles.

Celeste: Not at all, and I hadn't even thought to ask the question "What were they doing?"

And, honestly, it came to a night when, after post-election violence, half a million people were displaced in Kenya.

The orphanage swelled to 1,400 kids, and they needed everything.

Peggy: The orphanage was at 1,400 children?

Celeste: Yes, 14-- which is impossible, if you saw the space.

And so we were trying to just help as people that had learned of it.

And then came the day that I got a call that they were completely out of food and water and had been for two days.

How do you manage that?

I wanted to help with that and was struggling for an answer to that because we'd sent all our resources.

And then imagine I wake up at 2:30 in the morning with it going through my head: "Have you asked what the girls are doing for feminine hygiene?"

I literally went... ran to the computer to ask, not expecting an immediate answer, and got one, and all it said was "Nothing.

They wait in their rooms, and they were sitting on pieces of cardboard for days."

Peggy: During their menstrual cycle, they would go into a room and just wait it out.

Celeste: Yes, no access to the classroom, not being able to care for themselves.

So you couldn't-- Peggy: Didn't go to school?

Celeste: No, exactly.

Peggy: They took them out of the community.

So that's why Days for Girls, it's called, because you gave them back those days.

Celeste: Exactly.

Peggy: Okay, so and I read in the book, where, in these huts, where they went to kind of bleed and wait out this time period, some were killed.

Celeste: Yes, well, in Nepal there's a practice called chapati, and it's where you are untouchable during your period.

So to protect your family, you go to a shed or a hut or under the crawl space of your home or the forest, and for the entire days of your period, you're away from your family at risk of exposure.

It's been against the law since 2005, a finable offense since 2018, but if you do not have a solution and nothing that you've learned has taught you that you don't have to protect your family from something that connects us all, then you'll go wait in the shed.

So when the Days for Girls Women of Nepal go and teach the education, help them know what it is, have a solution they can count on month after month, then they can ritually cleanse the pad and not be at risk in the shed anymore.

And in Days for Girls Nepal, they've freed more than 20,000 women from the sheds-- and the education, which is so important for shattering the stigma and, honestly, celebrating our amazing bodies, right?

Peggy: They didn't know what was going on with them?

Celeste: No, and that's really where of all this stigma-- Peggy: It's bad enough just going through that as a young girl, but not understanding why and, you know, what's going on.

Celeste: Which is how it's considered untouchable in places because it's something that's associated with blood that can be painful, and, suddenly, you're the curse-- not in a euphemistic way, like we would say here, but literally being isolated, being sent away from your community.

And something that's sustainable along with education that invites everybody to talk about that changes that.

Peggy: So that's when you started to sew?

Celeste: That's when we started sewing the first design.

And then we just took care to listen to what they really needed.

And what was important is that first day-- this is hard to hear-- but that first day when we passed out the Days for Girls kits and they were cheering and hugging the kits and dancing with their kits and their cheers were echoing off the ceiling, the first ten or so girls that came up said, "Thank you so much because, before you came, we had to let them use us if we wanted to leave the room and go to class."

And I was just hoping that didn't mean what I feared it meant.

But it turned out they were being abused in exchange for a single disposable pad.

And that's the moment Days for Girls was born.

Peggy: Let's talk about the kit itself.

Can we do that?

Celeste: Oh, that'd be lovely.

Peggy: Yeah, let's talk about the kit itself.

And I do think what you said is really profound.

I do think when we talk about menstruation, that is a pretty normal part of life.

You don't go through life without being affected by it-- either your mother, your daughter, your sisters, your girl, whatever-- you just have to deal with it.

And so to deal with it in such an honest and true way, I just think it's helping everyone, even if you don't use it or are affected by it, but I just think it's really a wonderful thing.

So let's talk about the-- what you did first.

Celeste: Well, we've been through 30 iterations of this kit to get where we are today.

And today it holds two patents for the genius of listening to those we serve and serve with.

And they're absolutely phenomenal.

We say they last two to four years, but they actually last up to seven years.

We're getting feedback for up to seven years.

Peggy: So what you're saying to me is once you put the product out there, you got-- you took the feedback.

The girls actually gave you what they didn't like and liked about it.

That's incredible, and then it was changed.

Thirty different times you went through and changed it.

Like what?

Like what?

Celeste: Imagine how hard that is for sewers.

We have some.

I brought some of the early ones.

Peggy: And so these are all being made by women around the country-- Celeste: The world.

Peggy: --the world.

Celeste: It started in my community.

And so imagine-- Peggy: And you're from Seattle area, Washington, this country.

So we couldn't just get a bunch of money and buy them a whole bunch of pads and send them over there, because that wasn't sustainable.

It had to be a sustainable solution.

Celeste: Right, and no place to throw them away.

There is no "away."

So, when we got to the first location-- Peggy: We are so spoiled, aren't we?

Celeste: We really are.

Peggy: We are so spoiled.

Okay, keep going.

I love this.

Celeste: We had sent money for disposable products, but I was someone that was born in poverty and experienced that; so I knew "What happens next month when we send money for products and they need food?"

They are going to use it for food.

They should use it for food.

How do you make a product you can count on month after month?

And so we made the first washable kit.

Peggy: So that was your challenge.

That's where you started.

At 2:30 in the morning, that's what hits you.

And so this is what-- Celeste: Right, and this is the first one.

It's slightly embarrassing, and I can say that because I designed it.

So we made it white because-- and this is one that's been traveling all over the world-- because sanitary things are white, and we made them look like a pad because it's a pad, right?

So who would hang out-- Peggy: So, basically, you're going by what your experience was.

You had experience; and so you duplicated it.

And that did not work-- Celeste: None of us would want to hang this in our yard--right?-- with this tape on it, let alone when there's so much stigma.

So we had snaps on it, and you would snap it around their underclothing and then layer pads and slip them into the ribbons.

And from the very beginning, they said that the pads were shifting forward, so they would look like-- a man.

So pockets-- "We're gonna need pockets."

And we kept asking, and the key to receiving data is to seek it and to not try to skew it and not think, "I've got the perfect solution," but rather be curious about what could work best for you.

Peggy: I think that's really profound.

Celeste: Isn't it amazing?

Peggy: Was it hard for you to come back when you had this great idea when they had corrections?

Was it hard to take the correction?

Celeste: No, no, because this felt so deeply personal, we had to get it right, yes?

And so we needed it to be colorful so that it could hide stains.

We needed it to be comfortable.

So cotton flannel became the standard, and this, sewn with six layers deep, took four times as much water to wash and way longer to dry than this innovation, which is a large surface area that washes with little water, dries quickly, has a hot spot, we call it, so when you fold it in three of six absorbent layers and only three on the outside so that it can slip into the pockets and layer according to your flow.

Now we were being culturally, personally, and socially relevant.

Peggy: This is amazing how you've evolved on this product that is just simple in concept but yet, by changing out the fabrics, more absorbent?

Celeste: Absolutely.

And adaptable.

Peggy: And not white, but you're right.

I would have started with white too.

Who wouldn't have started with white?

They're white.

Celeste: Exactly, and they're beautiful.

So this is what we call a Portable Object of Dignity, a POD.

And they fold, they can go in your pocket, and this design is today's design that has pockets.

The liner just slips in.

You can layer more than one.

It folds around your under clothing.

So you can see it has roots back to the original.

Peggy: But it can't slide up.

Celeste: No--really important.

Peggy: You fixed that problem.

Celeste: And, again, portable, and we tried different materials.

At one point we had curved pocket, or edges, but this was hard for people to standardize.

Curves are harder than straight.

We also had a material that crinkled when they walked.

It was an early innovation.

You could tell.

That was ruled out right away.

Then we had one innovation that looked like, you know, panties and shield product to hold in place all in one, and they said, "Would you wanna hang that out in your yard?"

And then we had one that was a TNT to try to solve if you didn't have a surger.

We called it Turn and Tuck.

Over and over, we listened and responded, and today this incredible kit is working all over the world.

Peggy: That's amazing-- literally, all over the world.

How much all over the world?

Celeste: More than 3.3 million women and girls in 145 countries, on six continents.

Peggy: That is astounding to me.

I would never imagine that that many girls needed help, advice, education.

I just never realized the numbers were so significant.

Celeste: Twenty-five percent of the world population lacks access to what they need for care products-- 25%, about 500 million women and girls and people with periods.

Peggy: Five hundred million a year and how many?

Celeste: One hundred forty-five countries, and we've reached more than three million.

Peggy: You have chapters-- literally, all over the world-- making these.

But they're made very specifically now because, like you said, you've gone through these changes and you know what works, what doesn't, what fabrics, what absorption, all of that.

Celeste: Colors even.

Can I say you know, as a person that sews, the meticulous nature of someone who's sewing.

They are really careful.

So imagine you made the original patterns, threw it away because something else worked better, and you did that 30 times.

That's miraculous.

Wouldn't you agree?

They've been amazing, right?

And not falling for that trap that "Good enough is just fine."

Peggy: Good enough is not good enough.

Celeste: It's lasting, in some cases, up to seven years because they didn't just do good enough.

They gave it all the quality they can.

Peggy: So that means-- when you're saying lasting seven years, literally, one girl gets a kit, and it can last seven years-- all the washings?

Celeste: Isn't that amazing?

Peggy: That is beyond amazing.

Celeste: I have phenomenal photos.

Peggy: I don't have anything in my closet that's lasted seven years, and I'm not washing it in the frequency that they would be washing it.

Celeste: Yeah, it's an amazing-- Peggy: Okay, so how did the-- talk to me about-- because you've been there, and you've given out these kits, how do the girls respond?

I mean, once they know, they und--or you teach this?

Celeste: Yes, and we involve local individuals to be the people carrying it forward-- to teach, you know, in the language they're accustomed to, to be the leader and the example-- and then we can get feedback, and they're the solution, not us.

Peggy: Okay, so, locally, you're teaching these ladies how to sew and how to do all of this.

Celeste: Some of them-- to be an enterprise is harder than it sounds because it's not just sewing; it's able-- maintaining your machine; it's able to do the supply chain, to know to save money to buy more.

I used to say it's the Avon Lady of menstrual care, but it's not.

It's--they also have to be the chemist, the packager, and the salesperson; so it's very involved, but these people doing this are phenomenal.

Peggy: So I want to help.

I live in the United States.

I can just go to a-- the website.

I can go to the website, and I can look up a chapter, and there's chapter-- I don't wanna just make this on my own, because you want to follow the guides, and you want to get with a group, and the group can help you how to make them.

But there's lots to be done, yes?

Celeste: Oh, so much-- sewing and non-sewing.

And here's the deal: It's really a beautiful community to be part of.

Peggy: Oh, I'm sure it is.

Celeste: It's so engaging, and you get to see the photos of where they go.

So often you'll see a photo, and go, "I think that's my kit."

So it's actually quite spectacular.

Peggy: So guesstimate-- about--what would you say how many are being produced?

Like, because the goal is to-- even if they lasts seven years, you know, one girl needs quite a few in her lifetime.

Celeste: Right now the volunteers and enterprises are doing about 300,000 Days for Girls kits a year with the education and global advocacy Peggy: That's quite a few of them.

Celeste: It really is amazing.

Peggy: Three hundred thousand.

Peggy: All right, so let's go ahead and go through the kit.

Celeste: Well, each kit comes with a drawstring bag, and these have an extra long ribbon because they wear them as a backpack, right?

Peggy: And do they get to pick out their colors that they want?

Celeste: They often do.

Peggy: Okay, that tells them something about themselves right there.

Celeste: Right, and they carry them out or they'll trade with each other, and they're often wearing them every day to school.

Peggy: So even when they don't need them?

Oh, that's so adorable.

Celeste: It's the size that a little composition book can fit in it.

So all of these things were design elements driven by their need.

So these are the transport bags.

They're made of polyurethane laminate, PUL.

So they're a moisture barrier bag, and you can put soiled items in there and then just rinse them within them when you're ready to wash them.

Peggy: Okay, so I had kind of wondered that.

Once they--because these are not disposable; these are recyclable.

Celeste: Really reusable.

Peggy: So when you're taking this off and it's soiled, that's where it goes into.

Celeste: Right, you just tuck this soiled item into the bag.

Peggy: I knew there was an answer to that.

I just wasn't sure what the answer would be.

You've thought of every detail.

Is that what you're telling me?

Celeste: --keep listening, right?

It's, really, an exercise of respect and listening, and this is instructions without words on one side for how to use and care for them, and then an entire year of menstrual charting, which is really important to understand your body.

And then the transport bag-- once it is soiled, they can remove it, tuck it in here, and then the other items don't get soiled.

There are eight of these absorbent liners, two of these shields, a bar of soap, a washcloth, and two pair of panties.

Peggy: A bar of soap.

Oh my gosh.

Celeste: Yeah, just to get that conversation and the cleaning started, and they can take it from there.

That's a Days for Girls kit.

Peggy: So I wanna talk, just for a minute, about the book.

You wrote the book, and what was the purpose of writing for you?

Because you're a writer.

You are actually educated.

You did go to college.

Celeste: Yeah, a master's degree in creative writing and literature.

I finally got to use it.

Actually, I used it throughout the journey with Days for Girls because telling their stories, talking about why this mattered, was a challenge.

No one wanted to talk about this at first.

People would schedule me to speak, cancel it because they heard what it was about.

And so being able to communicate it was important.

It was of real value.

The book was--I'd come home, and these amazing women had done phenomenal things that no one would even-- one of them had been using cow dung as a child and would shake it out-- isn't that kind of hard to imagine?-- and break it up and use that for pads.

Peggy: Like, literally, cow dung?

Celeste: Yes, she'd look for the most splattered--sorry.

Peggy: No, no, that's okay.

Celeste: And so when she heard about this, she's like, "I have to do this where I live."

And the length she went to, the passion that she kept going with-- Kayanga was all in.

And all over the world, their stories are so beautiful-- resilient, dignity, strong.

And in places where they weren't even allowed to talk, now they're talking with the leaders of their whole community, fearlessly, because they're doing it for their community.

It's been a--how can you not share that story?

Peggy: Empowering.

Celeste: It is, and it's really proof that, when we come together, miracles happen.

And we need that kind of hope right now.

So it took me four years to write it because I wrote it on planes, and the-- Peggy: And the purpose of it was to, really, just so that everyone could see it, read it, know what's going on and could somehow contribute.

Celeste: Absolutely, help with it, know about it, and also know that whatever they feel called to, stand up, trust that you can make a difference-- not as a one but because of the power of we.

When we come together and each do a little, phenomenal-- 3.3 million can happen.

Peggy: Geez, incredible, but in the beginning of the book, when I was reading and I was, you know, carrying it on from plane to plane to plane, there was severe abuse, severe abuse, by your father.

And you were the oldest, and you went away.

Eventually, you went away to college because you couldn't wait to get out of there, and then your sisters blamed you because then they started taking-- getting the abuse.

Celeste: That's right.

Peggy: How do you think that mentally shifted you to this?

Because it had to have made you look around a little more or something.

Celeste: You know what?

I actually have one experience in particular that's unexpected that I used to think of as a horrible thing.

I was about five years old.

I was homeless and walking along a path at a state park.

We were between homes, and we're walking along, and a woman walked into view with her little dog, and in her hand she had a half-eaten apple, and she threw it in the dumpster, and it, frankly, had been a while since I'd eaten.

So I'm trying to figure out if I can get in there and get out.

She's looking me up and down.

And then she says, "Where are your shoes, girl?"

And in that moment it was like a mirror turned, and I could see what she saw when she looked at me.

She saw me as dirty and unkempt and the little person that she was looking down at.

And this beautiful, warm feeling just rushed over me as I had this.

I just wanted to say, "I am not from here.

I am not what you see."

And she'd already turned and walked away.

But in that moment-- I know it sounds funny-- but only a few years ago, I finally realized: Who gets that opportunity at age five to be able to say, "Actually, I am not what you see, and I don't-- I'm not my circumstances"?

And it was so much more than that.

We all are.

That really did give me a perspective, in all of the work I've done since, to always look at people to see what they want, to help them be seen, to recognize their strengths, not just the circumstances.

It really did--when you are a person with low resources, often you're not seen.

Often your opinion is set aside.

And knowing that, I have no temptation to come in and save anyone.

I was just so excited to see who wanted to step together.

Peggy: Wow.

Powerful.

I also think that it clearly gave you the opportunity to say, "What am I going to be?

How do I want to be viewed?"

Because, clearly, you've changed that.

Celeste: Okay, I thought I'd be a scientist or an artist or a singer or writer.

Never did I think global expert in periods and-- Peggy: At 2:30 in the morning, but the power of days-- giving lives, days, back to the girls-- it's a lot.

Celeste: It's been amazing.

Peggy: You were nominated Mother of the Year.

Tell me a little bit about that.

Celeste: Well, that was, frankly, who you know.

Someone who had been one said, "You should be American Mother of the Year for Washington State, and would you be willing?"

And I said, "Sure."

And then the next thing I know, I was.

Peggy: You had big shoes to fill.

Celeste: I got to meet the governor.

Peggy: Oh, there you go.

There you go.

Well, this is incredible.

I can't say thanks enough.

I love the stories.

Thanks so much for sharing them all.

Celeste: It's been a delight.

Peggy: I can't imagine how many more there are, but thank you.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you, Celeste.

Celeste: Thank you, Peggy.

Peggy: One of my favorite quotes is "Sewing small pieces together gives me a peaceful heart and a quilt to wrap you with, my love."

People say I'm creative.

If I am, it's because sewing has helped me become creative.

Sewing is a solace in times of trouble, a handy skill, and a way to express yourself.

Thank you for joining us in this new series, "Sewing as a Life Skill."

Get a job; get a hobby; sew at home or for fun; but, hopefully, put into practice the skills taught in this series.

From all of us in the studio, those behind the cameras, and our supportive families, thank you for watching "Fit 2 Stitch."

Happy sewing.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors, ♪♪♪ Reliable Corporation, ♪♪♪ Plano Sewing Center, ♪♪♪ Elliott Berman Textiles, ♪♪♪ Bennos Buttons, ♪♪♪ and Clutch Nails.

♪♪♪ announcer: To order a four-DVD set of "Fit 2 Stitch: Series 13," please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.