As two families prepare funerals for their young sons brutally murdered on their way home from a basketball match, others are trying to send their kids back to Africa to escape gang violence.

Chol Achiek, 12, and Dau Akeng, 15, were walking home in Cobblebank in Melbourne's northwest late on Saturday when police say they were ambushed by eight masked males and fatally stabbed.

Police believe the ambush was targeted but are not ruling out a case of mistaken identity, saying the victims were not gang members.

Parents are so traumatised by the gang violence that some plan to send their kids back to Africa to protect them, says Berhan Ahmed of Melbourne-based non-profit Africause.

"The families are in a desperate situation," he told Nine's Today program on Tuesday.

"They don't feel safe,

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