‘I’m happy to live a simple life and do something meaningful’
There’s a line in the song
The Queen Is Dead by indie legends The Smiths: “So I broke into the Palace,
With a sponge and a rusty spanner...”
So when Mark Steadman attended Buckingham Palace to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), as an old punk and massive music fan, he couldn’t resist.
Alongside the Clash badges pinned discreetly inside his blazer – you’re not allowed to wear anything on the outside for the ceremony – he was indeed carrying a sponge and rusty spanner in his pocket.
The 59-year-old was made an MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours List for services to youth development in the South East Asian country of Laos.
As co-founder of the
Lone Buffalo English school, Mark has lived in the town of Phonsavan since 2011.
Mark grew up in Fareham and studied St Anne’s School, then Fareham Technical College, before leaving as “I decided I didn't really want to learn anything else – I was too engrossed in the world of rock'n'roll.”
In 1983 he began working at the Virgin Megastore in the Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth. “It was”, says Mark, “probably the coolest record store outside London at the time, it was a great place to cut your spurs.”
From there he went travelling before returning to the UK, to end up with his former competitors, HMV, ultimately moving to their head office in London.
“I had a wonderful time as their rock and pop manager and did a lot of buying and negotiating with record companies, up until the backside fell out of the industry – digital came along and I was getting a bit restless, so I took off on a trip around the world.”
It was on this trip that he first visited the landlocked nation and fell in love with it. A country of just 7.5m people, it is ”in the UN'S least developed country bracket”, explains Mark. “Outside
(the capital) Vientiane and (second city) Luang Prabang, things are fairly rural and basic.
“I wrote in my diary at the time that I knew I'd be back there some day, and that day did come. When I went back to the UK from that trip, I knew I didn't want to walk back through corporate doors.
“I eventually became a tour guide and a tour leader.”
It was while in this role that he met Manophet, “the original Lone Buffalo”.
“He was a local tour guide, so I'd bring my groups to Phonsavan, and Manophet was my contact when we got there and would show us around.
“In those days it was a pretty difficult stop to manage on the tour because there wasn't much there in infrastructure compared to now. He would bring the town alive and people would love him.
“As well as doing the stuff with him, he would tell us all about unexploded ordinance clearance,” Laos has the unfortunate distinction of being the most bombed country in the world, “because he was involved in that programme, and we'd go to his school and watch him teach English in the evening, with a load of young people that he crammed into the ground floor of his house.
“He was just one of those people you meet and you're inspired by him. He had that effect on me – so much so that I decided that when he died suddenly in 2010 that something needed to be done to remember both him and to continue free English tuition in the town. It was quite a unique opportunity for young people and I wanted to make sure that didn't die, so I stepped in.”
As Mark explains it, none of this was planned – he had no background or training in education, or with nongovernmental organisations (NGOS).
“But for me that's an advantage, taking a completely fresh approach with no preconceptions and as I like to say, applying my punk-rock ethos – do it yourself. Punk was all about ‘we can't play’, but that doesn't mean we can't be in a band and then we can learn how to play. That's really what we do – DIY, and we can do it ourselves, together.
“Part of what we're offering as well is English, which is our primary function, we've introduced life skills and training along the way. A big part of our programme is leadership. Without the young people who are our beneficiaries, we wouldn't be so successful. The young people are so heavily involved it gives them a sense of responsibility and ownership, then they train their successors before they leave.
“Eighty-seven per cent of our students last year went on to tertiary education against the national average of 15. It's higher than the UK as well!”
Manophet was one of those people you meet and you're inspired by him
As to his future, Mark can’t see himself ever returning to the UK for long.
“I've become dewesternised, I couldn't come back and live in a Western culture and society. My way of thinking, my values and everything have been changed by my experiences in Laos.”
Only family would bring him back – his mum still lives in Fareham.
“If she needed help, I would come back, but longer term? I see myself as staying in Laos and continuing to develop young people.
“I find things a lot less complicated there and I'm happy to live a simple life and do something meaningful that makes me feel good too.”
Find out more about
Lone Buffalo or to make a donation, go to lonebuffalo. org.