Terrorists can't stop Whittier Christian group who landed in Brussels airport during bombings

LA HABRA — Just as a group of volunteers from Whittier Christian High School were arriving at the Brussels inteational airport Tuesday, they heard the bombs go off and took cover.

About 12 people from the school, including students, teachers, alumnae and three volunteers from Friends Christian Middle School in Yorba Linda, were in the middle of a terrorist attack at the airport that also included bombings at a city subway station killing 34 and wounding scores of people.

Luckily, they were in the next terminal. None of them were injured, said Chris Sanita, director of curriculum and instruction for Whittier Christian High School, located at 501 N. Beach Blvd.

“But they heard it,” he said. “They did whatever the first responders said to do.”

The group was en route to Liberia and the Containers of Hope ministry, bringing aid to Ebola orphans, he said. Backpacks filled with supplies donated by community members were on a cargo ship steaming toward Liberia. In what has become an aual trip, the group was looking forward to this year because last year’s was canceled due to the risk of Ebola, he said.

• PHOTOS: Terror attacks and chaos in Brussels, Belgium

Sanita said the school group is determined to finish their mission. They hope to land in Monrovia, Liberia, soon, possibly going through a different airport, since the Brussels airport is closed through Thursday.

Rolland Esslinger, whose son and daughter are part of the group in Brussels, said the idea is not to allow evil to win out. That’s why he’s in agreement with the team’s decision to continue with their mission.

“The terrorists want to disrupt our lives and our group is saying ‘no’ we are moving forward,” he said Wednesday from his office.

Maie Day, dean of students at the middle school, said the group is taking the train to Amsterdam Wednesday and will be flying out of there to Monrovia, Liberia. The middle school’s contingent includes a student, her mother and a math/science teacher, she said.

“They will be traveling to Liberia without their luggage,” Sanita said, adding they will have to do some shopping in the capital once they arrive.

Last night, the team members slept on cots set up in an airport hangar with little heat. The students, dressed in warm-weather clothes, were trying to stay warm, according to tweets and a short video sent by Taryne Esslinger, administrative secretary at nearby Heights Christian School in La Mirada and a Whittier Christian alumna.

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“We just feel very lucky that none of us were hurt and we were able to get out of there,” she said in the video. “The Red Cross is taking good care of us. Our team is really positive. We are keeping our focus on the end goal.”

Her father, Rolland Esslinger, the athletic director of Whittier Christian, said he received a text from his daughter at 1 a.m. that simply read: “Don’t worry.” Then Taryne called at 4 a.m., saying the team was safe. Along with his daughter, his son Brett Esslinger, the school’s baseball and football coach and health teacher, also went on the trip, he said.

“I was grateful they were safe, but angry at what the terrorists did,” Rolland Esslinger said. For the past six or seven years, he made the trip. On Wednesday, he was feeling bad he wasn’t there with the team.

Whittier Christian is keeping to a regular class schedule today. “Our teachers are praying with their students. They have been lifting up the kids (on the trip),” Sanita said.

--City News Service contributed to this report.