ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — There is a Lowe family reunion this weekend in Texas, where the mother of big league brothers Nathaniel and Josh is getting to watch her sons play against each other for the first time since being diagnosed with brain cancer last year.
Wendy Lowe was unable to attend at Tampa Bay last October when Nathaniel Lowe and the Texas Rangers played against younger brother Josh and the Rays in an AL Wild Card playoff series. She was going through chemotherapy and other medical appointments at the time.
The family was able to be together when the teams met for a series in Florida the first week of this season, but neither brother played then because both were on the injured list with oblique strains.
“It's been awesome to see her perseverance through everything, to continue fighting every single day,” Josh Lowe said before the series opener Friday. “I definitely think one of the main reasons she does it is because of my brother and I.”
Josh said he and his brother had their parents, their maternal grandmother, some cousins and other extended family in Texas for the series that opened Friday night with a 3-0 win by the World Series champion Rangers. They all planned to get together after Saturday's game at the the new house Nathaniel moved into during the offseason.
“They knew they were coming here, especially because of the fact that we didn't play the first time,” Josh said. “Everybody made a decision to come here and spend some time together.”
The Lowe brothers began their pro careers together in the Tampa Bay minor league system. Nathaniel, who turns 29 on Sunday, was traded to Texas in December 2020, so they first shared a major league field in that series last season.
Their parents attended that series in Florida in June of last season. Wendy wore a custom, split baseball jersey — one half a white Rays uniform, the other in Rangers blue, with “Lowe” written across the back.
In the series opener Friday night, Nathaniel had an RBI single in the third inning that put Texas up 3-0. After striking out his first two at-bats as the Rays' designated hitter, 26-year-old Josh singled in the sixth inning and then was being held on by his brother at first base.
On the shelf in Josh's locker in the visiting clubhouse before the series were two bobbleheads commemorating the Gold Glove Nathaniel won last season. The bobbleheads were giveaways at a Rangers game on Tuesday night, when he hit two home runs.
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Tampa Bay Rays' Josh Lowe, left, safely steals second base against Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, right, during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (30) and his brother Tampa Bay Rays' Josh Lowe, left, laugh at first base after Josh singled during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe, left, and Tampa Bay Rays' Josh Lowe, third from left, talk to the media along with their parents Wendy Lowe, second from left, and David Lowe, back right, prior to a baseball game June 9, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Fla. There is a Lowe family reunion this weekend in Texas, where Wendy is getting to watch her sons play against each other for the first time since being diagnosed with brain cancer last year. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson, File)
Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (30) and his brother Tampa Bay Rays' Josh Lowe, left, laugh at first base after Josh singled during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Friday, July 5, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Companies that bring solar power to some of the poorest homes in Central and West Africa are said to be among the fastest growing on a continent whose governments have long struggled to address some of the world's worst infrastructure and the complications of climate change.
The often African-owned companies operate in areas where the vast majority of people live disconnected from the electricity grid, and offer products ranging from solar-powered lamps that allow children to study at night to elaborate home systems that power kitchen appliances and plasma televisions. Prices range from less than $20 for a solar-powered lamp to thousands of dollars for home appliances and entertainment systems.
Central and West Africa have some of the world’s lowest electrification rates. In West Africa, where 220 million people live without power, this is as low as 8%, according to the World Bank. Many rely on expensive kerosene and other fuels that fill homes and businesses with fumes and risk causing fires.
At the last United Nations climate summit, the world agreed on the goal of tripling the capacity for renewable power generation by 2050. While the African continent is responsible for hardly any carbon emissions relative to its size, solar has become one relatively cost-effective way to provide electricity.
The International Energy Agency, in a report earlier this year, said small and medium-sized solar companies are making rapid progress reaching homes but more needs to be invested to reach all African homes and businesses by 2030.
About 600 million Africans lack access to electricity, it said, out of a population of more than 1.3 billion.
Among the companies that made the Financial Times' annual ranking of Africa's fastest growing companies of 2023 was Easy Solar, a locally owned firm that brings solar power to homes and businesses in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The ranking went by compound annual growth rate in revenue.
Co-founder Nthabiseng Mosia grew up in Ghana with frequent power cuts. She became interested in solving energy problems in Africa while at graduate school in the United States. Together with a U.S. classmate, she launched the company in Sierra Leone with electrification rates among the lowest in West Africa.
"There wasn’t really anybody doing solar at scale. And so we thought it was a good opportunity,” Mosia said in an interview.
Since launching in 2016, Easy Solar has brought solar power to over a million people in Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have a combined population of more than 14 million. The company’s network includes agents and shops in all of Sierra Leone’s 16 districts and seven of nine counties in Liberia.
Many communities have been connected to a stable source of power for the first time. “We really want to go to the last mile deep into the rural areas,” Mosia said.
The company began with a pilot project in Songo, a community on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. Uptake was slow at first, Mosia said. Villagers worried about the cost of solar-powered appliances, but once they began to see light in their neighbors’ homes at night, more signed on.
“We have long forgotten about kerosene,” said Haroun Patrick Samai, a Songo resident and land surveyor. “Before Easy Solar we lived in constant danger of a fire outbreak from the use of candles and kerosene."
Altech, a solar power company based in Congo, also ranked as one of Africa's fastest growing companies. Fewer than 20% of the population in Congo has access to electricity, according to the World Bank.
Co-founders Washikala Malango and Iongwa Mashangao fled conflict in Congo's South Kivu province as children and grew up in Tanzania. They decided to launch the company in 2013 to help solve the power problems they had experienced growing up in a refugee camp, relying on kerosene for power and competing with family members for light to study at night.
Altech now operates in 23 out of 26 provinces in Congo, and the company expects to reach the remaining ones by the end of the year. Its founders say they have sold over 1 million products in Congo in a range of solar-powered solutions for homes and businesses, including lighting, appliances, home systems and generators.
“For the majority of our customers, this is the first time they are connected to a power source,” Malango said.
Repayment rates are over 90%, Malango said, helped in part by a system that can turn off power to appliances remotely if people don't pay.
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Yakubu Achiri fixes a car battery to his solar system at his house in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
A young man stands by a community radio station solar setup sponsored by a German NGO in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
A man sits in a community radio station powered by a solar setup sponsored by a German NGO in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
Solar torch lights are seen on the rooftop of a building in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
Yakubu Achiri holds a solar panel that he uses to power his light bulb at his house in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
A girl stands in front of a house connected to solar system in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
Yahya Alhassan tests a light bulb with a solar system at his home in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
Rukaya Tongdoo connects a torchlight to a solar powered radio outside her house in Gushegu northern, Ghana, Friday Sept 6, 2024. (AP Photos/Abdul Haqq Mahama)
This photo released by Easy Solar shows a man and his family watching television with a solar power in his house in Monrovia, Liberia, Saturday Aug. 26, 2023. (Muctarr Bah Mohamed/Easy Solar via AP)
This photo released by Easy Solar shows a large solar panels installation on a rooftop of an office building in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (Muctarr Bah Mohamed/Easy Solar via AP)
This photo released by Easy Solar shows a large solar panels installation on a rooftop of an office building in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday Aug. 13, 2024. (Muctarr Bah Mohamed/Easy Solar via AP)
