Kat Graham Speaks On Behalf Of Refugees
Kat Graham wants everyone to understand one thing – being a refugee is never a choice. The Vampire Diaries star, now 35, is using her voice and platform to shine a light on the reality of millions around the world who have been forced to flee their homes.
“The thing people need to know is that nobody wants to be a refugee,” Kat says plainly. “It could happen to me. It could happen to you. It could happen to any of us.”
Since 2013, Kat has been a passionate ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and over the years, she’s met families torn apart by war, women fleeing violence, and children whose only crime was being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
She’s been to areas affected by disaster and displacement, from the chaos in Venezuela to the deep scars of conflict in Sudan. “I’ve seen people who had to flee because of droughts, or floods,” she shares. “War or political unrest, persecution. There’s not enough food. Everyone has different needs and reasons for having to flee their homes.”
For Kat, these aren’t just statistics. These are real stories and real people.
“These are not people who are looking for a handout. They really just want to get their life back on track and just want the tools to be able to do it,” she says.
What moved her most? The strength of the women. Many of them, she explains, are the ones who carry their families, literally and emotionally, through impossible situations.
In her words: “Women are some of the strongest forces when it comes to resettling because sometimes the men have to stay back and fight or stay back to try and provide for the family and the women have to go with the kids.”
Kat’s empathy isn’t just born from her travels. It’s personal. Growing up with a single mom who raised her alone after a painful split from her father, she saw firsthand what resilience looks like.
“In a lot of ways, I am who I am because I looked at my single mom, my late mother, and how she was able to pull herself up by her own bootstraps without any support from my father,” she reflected.
That strength — the kind her mother showed — is exactly what she sees in the women she meets through UNHCR. And now, Kat is urging fans and followers to take action in whatever way they can.
“It doesn’t have to be much. Even a dollar,” she says. “If everyone who followed me online could send even a dollar, it could completely change a circumstance for a child, for their safety, for their protection, for their health, for their family.”
