Muo was born in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, a city in the heart of the Sudanese civil war in the 1990s. To help himself and his family survive, Muo worked as a domestic cleaner, earning three dollars a day at the age of 10, leaving home for two-month stints before returning to spend a week with his family. In 1998, at the age of 11, Muo, along with six siblings and his mother, Elizabeth, escaped to Egypt as refugees. The family enrolled in a refugee lottery while in Egypt and waited two years to find a new destination. Eventually, Muo's family were given the chance to come to Australia on humanitarian visas, moving to Sydney, where he and his family were able to settle down. Upon arrival in Sydney, Muo began formal education at the age of 13. He spent the first two years in extensive English training and enrolled in high school.