In a dark room in Cairo, a 13-year-old boy looks up at a television screen, barely blinking.
The screen flickers and Real Madrid's superstar winger Vinícius Júnior appears addressing the young boy directly, in Arabic: "Zaher, mahaba" - Hello Zaher.
Zaher barely moves, his eyes wide, locked on his favourite footballer.
We first met Zaher a year ago in the ruins of Sudan's capital, Khartoum. He was a small quiet child, scarred by war - one of millions of children whose lives have been upended since the country's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) started fighting in 2023.
More than 17 million children are now in need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan, according to the UN children's charity, Unicef. It says it has been able to verify that at least 4,300 have been killed or maimed, although it believes the true figure is far higher.
Zaher had lost both his legs in a drone strike. With little access to specialist treatment, he dreamed of the day he might walk and play football again.
More than a year later, as we walk into an apartment in the Egyptian capital, Zaher greets us with an enormous hug. His mother, Habibah, embraces us too.
The boy we remember as shy and withdrawn is almost unrecognisable.
