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Yvonne: Hello, I’m Yvonne Archer, and today on “People and Places” from bbclearningenglish.com we meet someone who was born in London, moved to Kuwait and then to Bahrain at the age of seven. So who is she and where would she say she’s from? Hina Hello, my name is Hina and I consider myself as being from Bahrain. Yvonne: Generally, we think of Bahrain as a very rich country that produces oil and has lots of expensive shops. But of course, there’s a lot more to Bahrain! Which two countries is it near to and how many islands is it made up of? Hina Bahrain is situated in the Middle East – or, you could say, it’s situated in the Arab World. It’s a very small country – it’s near Iran and Saudi Arabia – and we're… actually, Bahrain is a collection of thirty different islands. Yvonne: Bahrain is near to Iran and Saudi Arabia and it’s made up of thirty different islands. And another way to say that, as we heard, is: it’s ‘a collection of’ thirty different islands. Hina Bahrain is a collection of thirty different islands. Yvonne: Hina has also lived and studied in the United States and now she lives in London. But as she’s found out, people know very little about Bahrain, even though we've got so much access to the internet. And even now, some of Hina’s own family don’t see a reason to visit Bahrain! How many examples of questions – or rather, negative comments – does Hina give about Bahrain? Hina Sometimes they say, ‘What’s the point of going to Bahrain?’ I have family who say that as well… ‘I think it’s going to be boring’, ‘Maybe it'll just be desert’ or ‘Isn’t it a rich, oil country? All you can probably do there is, go shopping.’ Yvonne: Making a negative comment sound like a question can be a way of softening it, so it doesn’t sound as rude... Hina Sometimes they say, ‘What’s the point of going to Bahrain?’ I have family who say that as well… ‘I think it’s going to be boring’, ‘Maybe it'll just be desert’ or ‘Isn’t it a rich, oil country? All you can probably do there is, go shopping.’ Yvonne: And I caught three comments from Hina there: that it’s boring, it’s just desert, and there’s nothing to do in Bahrain except go shopping. So people ask: ‘What’s the point?’ Is there really any good reason to visit Bahrain? Hina Sometimes they say, ‘What’s the point of going to Bahrain?’ Yvonne: If someone begins a comment with ‘What’s the point?’ – for example, ‘What’s the point in learning English with bbclearningenglish.com?’ - you’ll probably have an opportunity to convince them that there are several good reasons! Yvonne: So Hina, what’s the point in visiting Bahrain? Hina What people don’t realise is, there’s a lot of diversity of faces, different kinds of food and Bahrain is a very hospitable place. The people are very nice. Bahraini’s have very good hearts and they’re very warm and friendly. Yvonne: The food and the people – Bahrainis – are two great reasons to visit Bahrain. So, there is a point! When we think of the Middle East and Arab countries, sadly, we think of war. And during the first Gulf War, Hina was still at primary school in Bahrain. It was opposite a military camp and hospital for injured soldiers from other Arab countries, yet Hina remembers a few funny moments, even though they were created by the horrors of war. In this story, little Hina had to decide whether it was safe to go back to school after lunch one day… Hina I remember we often went to school with gas masks, my sister and I. And there’s one story when we heard the sirens going off. You could hear them on the TV, you could hear them on the radio and you could hear them outside. The birds would just be so quiet because the air raid sirens were going. ...