When, after a year, I returned to my native Australia desperate for peace and stability, I found the country engaged in an intense battle of a different kind - against drought.
Water had become an issue long before I went overseas. I vividly remember huge advertising billboards installed by local water authorities warning people about the declining water supplies in the city's dams due to unseasonally low levels of rainfall.
They promoted the logo "every drop of water counts." But back then, the severity of the Big Dry, as it's known by the media, had not quite hit the consciousness of the Australian public.
Many of us simply assumed that life could carry on as usual - that we could turn on the tap to access unlimited sources of water for our bathing, washing, drinking, cooking and watering needs.
Today, five years on, the picture is starkly different. The drought has relentlessly devastated crop production and pushed rural towns in Australia to the brink of economic and social ruin. There are reports of growing rates of suicide among farmers whose livelihoods have been affected.
Another distressing consequence of the drought has been its impact on wildfires. While wildfires are a regular feature of the Australian summer, they have been exacerbated by the dry conditions as dry foliage provides perfect fodder for uncontrollable blazes.
Initially rural towns were the most affected, but it has now become impossible for uban households to turn a blind eye to the ravaging effects of the drought.
Water restrictions of varying levels are in place nationwide. This generally means a ban on watering lawns with sprinkler systems (manual systems such as handheld hoses are fine), permission to water gardens only on certain days, and restrictions on filling swimming pools or washing cars.
Government authorities are pleading with households to "every day, in every way, use less water."
In a conscientious effort to do just that, residents are collecting water in buckets during their showers and diverting laundry water run-off into their parched gardens.
It has become a given that long, luxurious showers are a thing of the past. Some people are even resorting to flushing toilets intermittently. Such is the climate of tension that households are being encouraged to tell on their neighbors if they breach water restrictions.
On my recent travels down the eastern seaboard of Australia, I observed with great sadness that the usually lush green coastal strip was now a burnt, dry yellow. It was a ghastly visual reminder of the immense toll the drought has taken and really shocked me.
Clearly, water is an increasingly precious resource, not just in Australia but worldwide. Its scarcity has been a growing source of tension between countries. Many sources even predict there is the potential for a war over water in places such as the Middle East, where it has been deemed more valuable even than oil.
In 2002, for example, Israel accused Lebanon of siphoning water from a river which fed Israel's largest reservoir. And there are countless other examples of countries holding on to certain territories purely for their water supplies.
Author Jeffrey Rothfeder, an expert on water issues, has warned that nearly 2.2 billion people in more than 62 countries were starved for water, with Haiti, Cambodia and Gambia among the worst affected areas.
He pointed out that we had reached these crisis proportions due to the massive rate of industrial development, widespread irrigation and lack of foresight in conservation.
In short, centuries of damming and pollution to meet the ever-growing needs of industry and households have severely diminished the world's fresh water supplies.
The crisis over water is also obviously linked with climate change, which brings hotter weather, less rainfall and reduced streamflows.
While the drought has forced us to curb our water usage, it is timely to ask ourselves whether it is really necessary to consume as much as we do even in better days. How much do we really try to save water (and other natural resources)?
In some places of the developing world, the things we take for granted such as access to clean water, electricity, etc are absolute luxuries. Yet in the western world, we squander, without thought, these very things.
If the drought in some small way can shift community attitudes towards less waste, perhaps it would not all have been in vain.
Getting Wise on Water
While households use only a small percentage of the overall water supply, every drop counts. Here are some commonsense ways for us to save water:
* Install a water efficient showerhead
* Halve your shower time
* Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth or shaving
* Install a rainwater tank and connect it to your toilet, laundry and garden hose
* Install a dual-flush toilet system
* Buy a water efficient washing machine
* Look for water efficient rating labels when buying new appliances