Yes, agreed completely. Most people have this mental image of the second/third world (or occupied nations) that doesn't match reality. For example, when we bombed the shit out of Iraq and destroyed most of their infrastructure and then occupied the country, there were still flights going in and out of the airport from Lebanon, the banks were still operating normal banking hours, the power was still on (for a few hours a day), people still went to the market, and poor farmers could still get gasoline to drive their crops to those markets. The university in Baghdad still conducted research and most of the country still had internet and cellphone access. I think popular culture has presented this picture of "not first world" places as basically one giant explosion, and that image is what most people see.

Particularly when basic networking gear that will do the job is NOT that expensive. There are equipment importers in major south asian cities who bring in used/refurb PCs, servers and network gear. You can get a Cisco 3550-48 for $40. For an organization of this size there is no excuse to build a network with D-Links.