It’s a small world.

While studying abroad last summer in India – mostly in Bangalore – Luke Gran, senior in forestry, got the chance to work for a non-governmental organization, the Centre for Development Studies. Through the center he worked with a women’s group, Vimochana.

“Their job is to help women,” Gran said. “They have former [abuse] victims they train, so it’s women helping women.”

When Gran returned to Iowa State in the fall, he wrote an article for the ISU women’s studies newsletter, which sponsored the trip.

A few months later he received a phone call.

“In February I was sitting on my bed at home, writing a letter to my friends in India, reminiscing about the people and everything,” Gran said. “My cell phone rang; it wasn’t a number I recognized. I answered and in an Indian accent, they asked if it was Luke Gran they were talking to.”

The man on the phone was from India and living in the United States.

He told Gran he had a cousin in Bangalore who was facing violence and harassment from her parents. The man wanted to make sure the women’s center in Bangalore was safe and was going to be able to help his cousin.

Gran said he got “goose bumps” when the man told him he’d called the center already and talked to a woman Gran had worked with all summer and was just writing a letter to.

He assured the man Vimochana would be able to help, and that his cousin should call, because counselors prefer to speak to the victim.

“As is the process, we initially provide them with emotional and moral support, reassuring them that this is a safe space that will give them the security from where they can decide about how they want their life to go forward,” according to the Vimochana Web site. “For when women come to us initially they are too shattered to make any decisions.”

The man had searched for information on safe women’s centers and said Gran’s article “was the first one that popped up.”

A couple of weeks later the man called back.

“His cousin has had problems getting away from her family, but Vimochana helped,” Gran said. “[She] finally got away from her family and is now at the women’s shelter. She is there now and feels very secure.”

The man told Gran his cousin will probably start going to school in Singapore.

“This kind of violence and harassment does not just happen to the poor,” Gran said. “No one is secure from harassment and abuse – no class.”

Vimochana has its own perspective, as well.

According to its Web site, “What we have found, however, is that women from the upper classes usually have the economic security and independence to stand on their own feet, even if they do not have the freedom to make decisions independently.”

Rural women receive more support than urban women, according to the shelter’s Web site.

“Urban middle class and lower middle class women can count on very little social support – for urban life is so fragmented and alienating,” according to the shelter’s Web site, “whereas poorer women or women from the slums and rural areas have greater social and community support structures that can be mobilized to protect them from violent husbands.”

Vimochana responds to about 400 to 450 women and families at any given point in time, according to its Web site.

Gran said it was a “success story” and was happy to be able to do something more for Vimochana.

“This organization is so amazing,” he said.

“The challenge was what can I do in a small way to repay their generosity? It’s not everyday that you meet a group of people who will give seven days of the week to this.

“Here I was having a small role in helping one woman.”

Gran said he learned a lot from the experience.

“We can change the world with our words, I hadn’t really thought about that, I hadn’t even thought about the far reaching of just writing this little article,” he said. “It’s just amazing, we all should be more careful with what we post and what intention we have with the things we say.”

Gran said the program directors, leaders and activists were incredibly helpful in broadening his view of the struggles women face in India