[Photo/Agencies]

At the one-day exhibition in a cafe in central Belgrade, extra donations were collected in an old guitar case. Noory was to keep the proceeds from his original paintings, which were auctioned at the starting price of 2,500 dinars.

His family is among some 4,500 migrants staying in 18 state-run camps in Serbia now. Some 40 percent of them are children, according to Ivan Miskovic from the government's refugee agency.

"They have taken a long, difficult, serious and dangerous trip," Miskovic says, pledging to help Noory "develop his gift".

The youngster says he would like to go to Switzerland to study painting and languages, and the official expressed hope that the migrants would eventually reach their preferred destinations.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE