‘Cape Town Is The New Hollywood'

Hollywood actor Kristin Davis was in Africa recently visiting refugee camps and shining an unwavering light on the needs of the displaced, especially girls and women. November will also see the release of a film on elephant conservation that she shot last summer in South Africa and Zambia.

- Renuka Methil

DRESSED IN jeans, a blue T-shirt and beige jacket, Kristin Davis does not look anything like Charlotte, the immaculate, well-heeled, prim-and-proper protagonist she played in the hit American series, Sex And The City that dominated TV screens the world over with six seasons all of the last decade.

She seems to be on a mission, far away from the glamorous outings of her New York-based character in the series.

There is instant camaraderie when we meet her at FORBES AFRICA’s offices on an August afternoon in Johannesburg; there is laughter and candor, as the unassuming, weary, jet-lagged Los Angeles-based actor settles down for a chat about the important work that has brought her to South Africa.

That same morning, she had been at a Women’s Business Network brunch event, Women to Women, for UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency). The event served as an awareness building and advocacy opportunity to support access to education for refugee youth across Africa.

As a UNHCR goodwill ambassador, a role she has been playing since 2017, she had been the keynote speaker, when she said: “Bringing to attention the needs of refugee girls and women has never been more important and giving them a chance in life through education is vital in helping them rebuild their lives.”

Davis says she has been traveling to Africa for the last two decades.

It’s a continent she loves. And this is her ninth visit to South Africa.

“One of the wonderful things we got to do here in South Africa was to meet refugee girls who have been awarded scholarships through UNHCR to go to college and are currently in university here and are doing well and that was a first for me to be able to meet refugees who’ve been able to go that far successfully,” begins Davis.

There is a record high of 70.8 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.