This union continues today as more Haitians reside and work in Africa and more Africans live in Haiti. One such person, Belmondo Ndengué, a Cameroonian living in Port-au-Prince, captured over two hundred years of history in a statement on what he had gained from living in Haiti:  
After all this time spent on this corner of the Earth, extended providentially in what I call Caribbean Africa, I cannot return to the circumstances which led me here. I lived in Europe and one day, love and fate propelled me here. I expected to spend four years and go back. In the end, I stayed in a country that allowed me to better understand the Africa that I had left for several years.  
As important as these political and historical ties are, they cannot supersede the cultural bonds that connect Haiti to Africa. If Haiti is not quite West Africa in the West Indies, it does contain highly pronounced African aspects of its culture - a creolized form that is a recognizable voice in a rich transatlantic dialogue that stretches across the diaspora. It is in the adaptations and advancements of the remarkable circumstances of Haitian history that proof exists of the presence of a global African consciousness and one that over time has influenced the continent as well. The music of Haiti provides a clear example. Haitian commercial music - Konpa, twoubadou and rasin - contains sonic elements of Africa as well as the rhythms and syncopations of Haiti's closest neighbours. A worldly listener can hear strains of Congolese soukous in its guitar lines even though its creators deny conscious influence. Haitian music has in turn influenced the development of music forms in other parts of la Francophonie. Zouk from Martinique is partly rooted in Haitian music, and zouk has inspired the exciting Ivorian dance music zouglou, widely popular also in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Gabon.