Surrounded by history Haitians pray for future

Behind the preacher‘s amplifier stacks lies a shuttered museum, which once displayed the anchor of Columbus's ship the Santa Maria.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, February 8, 2010 (AFP) - With hands raised and eyes closed, in unison a crowd of hundreds cries out "thank you for Haiti!" -- their voices echoing across the Champs de Mars, a square that is the beating heart of Port-au-Prince.

The Christian throng, surrounded by evidence of a troubled past and a desperate present, sings and sings until the sun ceases to bathe the mountains that envelope the city in a rich orange glow.

Through loud speakers, a preacher continues to speak in near-darkness, stopping only to belt out hymns to a syncopated backbeat and the ring of treble-rich guitars heard across the Caribbean.

"Jesus give me a chance," they sing, "don't leave me alone, don't turn your back on me."

The lyrics take on a greater poignancy for devotees, who overwhelmingly live in the thousands of ramshackle shelters that now dominate the Champs de Mars.

What began as a few sheets tied up as shelter from the sun, has now become a mass of corrugated iron and timber, and an omen that recovery in Haiti will neither be quick nor painless.

In case any more reminders of Haiti's painful past were needed the crowd is overshadowed on all sides by reminders of previous upheavals, the consequences of which still reverberate.

Behind the amplifier stacks lies a shuttered museum, which once displayed the anchor of Columbus's ship the Santa Maria.

Along with the rusted artifact, the Genoan's first voyage also brought with it European conquest and a system of slavery which came to define the country.

To the rear, a statue of Henri Christophe on horseback looms over the crowd.

Known as a hero of the slave revolt that made Haiti the first independent nation in the western hemisphere, Christophe later declared himself king and ruled as a despot.

A few meters to the northwest is a grey tower of metal and concrete ordered to mark the country's bicentennial in 2004 by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

It remains unfinished and its patron fled the country amid bloodshed that prompted the US to send troops to the country.

Also a few meters away is the once gleaming white presidential palace, which now lies in ruins thanks to the 7.0 magnitude quake that struck as dusk fell on January 12.

But the ad-hoc congregation is unperturbed. "God, thank you for putting me here," they sing.