Riffat Arif

Sister Zeph, birth name Riffat Arif (born 1983/1984), is a Pakistani teacher, women's activist and philanthropist from Gujranwala, Pakistan. She is the founder of the Zephaniah Women's Education and Empowerment Foundation (ZWEE).

Life Growing up, Arif faced bad treatment and discrimination from her schoolteachers because she was Christian, a religious minority in the country.

She was a leader at school and had plans of becoming a lawyer. When she was thirteen her first article on Women's Rights appeared in Pakistan's leading newspaper, the Daily Jang.

Arif left school in 1997, at age 13.

Zephaniah Women's Education and Empowerment Foundation In 2013, Sister Zeph won an award which gave her $20,000 in prize money, which she used to expand her school, hire more teachers, and establish a vocational center in Gujranwala, which serves both students and local women. As of 2023, Sister Zeph's school provides free education to 200 students, from kindergarten through tenth grade. Many of the teachers are former students.

The documentary made it to the finals of the 2015 Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award for Television and won the gold medal in the Best Documentary: Community Portraits category at New York Festivals 2016.

In 2023, Sister Zeph won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize in honor of her achievements. She stated she would use the prize money to build a better school building.