Yadesa Bojia was born in Ambo, Ethiopia, to a well-to-do family. When Bojia was two years old, his father, Zewge Bojia, was killed by a member of the revolutionary army during the Ethiopian civil war. Bojia's father had been a politician, elected by popular vote three times to serve in the Ethiopian parliament during the reign of the monarch Haile Selassie. He had also co-founded the Mecha and Tulema Self-Help Organization. After the death of his father, Bojia and his family moved to Addis Ababa where Bojia attended elementary and secondary schools before immigrating to the United States.