A portrait of a teenage boy looking slightly to the left, with a pensive look on his face. He has short, dark hair and is wearing a white football shirt with three maroon stripes down the sleeves.Image source, Joe McNally/BBC
Image caption,

Zaher is one of millions of children whose lives have been devastated by Sudan's civil war

ByNawal Al-MaghafiSenior international investigations correspondent, Reporting fromCairo
  • Published8 hours ago

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.