Jim Marshall

Nickname in the Road Trip"Marshall Tito Airport Leg" (a long story...). Or "Sniper Magnet"
NationalityScottish
Present OccupationCreative Director, Rubikon Associates, Sarajevo
Where do you live?Downtown Sarajevo
Where would you like to live?Just above downtown Sarajevo
What do you think the mission statement of the Serious Road Trip is?Commitment to children in war and whatnot. Erm, psycho-social needs. Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all
What did you do within the Serious Road Trip?Helped network SRT in Mostar in 1994 (if that's how you can describe the likes of getting 'borrowed' trucks back from Armija BiH). Set up cultural links between SRT and Sarajevo thru Start of Sarajevo. Was present when Olja (official purveyor of alcoholic beverages to SRT in Sarajevo from '94 onwards) coined the phrase Dark Side of Disneyland (which of course became a city-wide youth festival late '95).
What did the Serious Road Trip do within you?I did not have sexual relations with that organisation ...
If the Serious Road Trip was a well-known person, who would it be?A hybrid of Clint Eastwood, Ghandi and Eddie the Eagle (famously crap ski-jumper who appeared in the Sarajevo Olympics)
What's the most valuable thing you've ever given to somebody?Who knows? Any number of SRT tee-shirts during the war. Left me with a sum total of none.
What difference did the Serious Road Trip make to the world?To the world at large, who knows? To the worlds of people it touched in Bosnia alone, a great deal. Not least that there can always be small acts of kindness, solidarity and mutual hope in even the most extreme circumstances.
What difference did the Serious Road Trip make to you?It meant that I didn't have to remove a destroyed VW Beetle from the garden at Mladi Most in Mostar all on my own.
Choose one word or phrase to encapsulate the Serious Road Trip

Don't have one in mind for SRT but you'll enjoy this quote all the same:

"That's the problem with most of these fucking Dalmatians: they think they're as smart as Germans and as attractive as Italians but they're really just a bunch of fuckwits!"
(Pete Gulliver, 1994ish).

What did you not like about the Serious Road Trip?That's water under the bridge now. Perhaps, and only at times, inappropriate displays of macho behaviour.
Propose a motto for the Serious Road TripHello Cleveland!
In what circumstances did you join the Serious Road Trip?It's all a bit of a blur now.
In what circumstances did you leave the Serious Road Trip?It's all a bit of a blur now.
If you were to measure the Serious Road Trip, which system would you use and what ranking would you give?A beer versus effectiveness performance scale. Good marks for drunken but effective performance.
Did you manage to achieve what you set out to do?Yes.
What would be an alternative or better name for the Serious Road Trip?Despite being Scottish I would opt for a more universal name than any so far. "Road Trip 2, This Time It's Personal" perhaps not the best though.
What's the most valuable thing you've taken away from the Serious Road Trip?A sentimental smile every time (every day actually) I pass what I truly believe is one of the old Bedford trucks located next to a still bombed-out building next to the river in Sarajevo. It has sat there since the war and has trees growing out of it. I also truly believe it could still be started up ...
What do you think the Serious Road Trip is good at?

Pure, personal and unpatronising humanitarianism without;

  1. flashing accreditation around and thinking you look like the shit when you actually look like you're a member of the cast of The Office,
  2. pretending to be down with 'fugees when you're actually working on your career,
  3. being motivated by the very greed that causes most of the world's problems in the first place.
What do you think the Serious Road Trip should do next?Get back in action if there are enough people with the vision to do so. If in the late '90s an organisation had been born with Road Trip's sincerity, commitment and experience coupled with the fundraising potential of, dare I say it, War Child, then the world would actually be a better place. So many of the large humanitarian agencies out there exist purely like businesses: the point is to apply for funding and to get it and therefore to make the organisation "bigger", "a more serious player" with "a more competitive edge" than to raise money with the sole purpose of using it to help make the lives of beneficiaries better.
If the Serious Road Trip was a drink, which one would it be?A bizarre blend of super-lager and a fine 18 year old Scotch which against all odds actually rocks.
What is your favourite memory or anecdote from the Serious Road Trip?

When people in Sarajevo continue even to this day to reminisce along the lines of "... those strange yellow lorries with Mickey Mouse on them driving down Sniper Alley. You began to wonder if you were finally losing your mind ...".

More surveys ...