8/8/2019 The 17-year-old who's won a Diana Award for her inspiring work with the young

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Expelled fromschool, arrestedfor assault, the17-year-old whoswon a Dianaaward for herinspiring workwith the younger Martin

TEENAGE tearaway turned anti-fe campaigner has received anard set up in honour of Princessna.iza Reberio, a sales assistant fromydon, was just 14 when she set upes Not Knives after seeing a

mber of friends get stabbed ing conflicts.iza, now 17, said she was sud-

nly faced with a very different sidefe following her expulsion from

oma Convent girls school for badd disruptive behaviour in 2006.

saw and heard about friendsng stabbed and I thought it wasmal, she said.would get texts saying someone

d been stabbed the night befored I wasnt shocked. Then I lookedmy friends little brothers and sis-s waking up to those texts and Inted to change things.ves Not Knives, which began

th Elizas decision to wear ahirt bearing the message,ds volunteers into primary

d secondary schools togage with at-risk pupilsore they become involvedth gangs and anti-socialhaviour.ow the campaign haseived a Diana Award,

med after the late Princess

of Wales, which honours youngpeople who show compassion

and a commitment to improving thelives of others. Eliza, who has previ-ously been arrested for assault, said:We dont work with the police. Ihave been arrested myself and thereis a lot of negative feeling toward theauthorities, which is what I want tochange.

But we have to feel like we can do

it ourselves. People wont engage ifpolice are there, it undermines theirown decision-making.

Lives Not Knives, which has 20trained mentors, received 30,000of funding from Croydon council inJuly. The councils chief executive Jon

Rouse said: We are immenselyproud of Eliza and what she hasachieved through the Lives NotKnives campaign.

She has an extraordinary ability

to galvanise young people into action while also influencing decision-makers. Over the last couple of yearswe have seen reductions in seriousyouth violence in Croydon and Elizaswork is part of the reason.

She is both a role model for youngpeople and an ambassador for Croy-don.

Eliza was presented with the awardat a ceremony on Friday at Barclays

headquarters in Canary Wharf.Maggie Turner, chief executive of

the Diana Award, said: It is groupsof young people like them, who havethe courage to challenge the ongoingcycle of violence, that will create asafer society in which we would alllike to live.

The Diana Award was establishedin 1999 as a legacy to the Princesswho believed that young people havethe power to change the world for

the better.Lives Not Knives campaigners have

been filmed for a Channel 4 projectcalled Battlefront.

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In her honour:

the Diana awardswere establishedtwo years afterthe Princess died