Kampung Baru Senai is a Chinese new village in Johor with rich Hakka heritage, community memories, and everyday cultural stories. These stories live in places such as Kong Hay Tong, traditional kuih stalls, the old theatre, SJK(C) Senai Museum, Senai River, and old railway traces.

However, many young people who live around these places do not fully understand their meanings. To them, these sites may look ordinary, but behind them are stories of migration, resilience, family values, community support, and cultural spirit.

The issue is not that Senai’s culture has disappeared. The issue is that it is no longer being actively communicated across generations. Elder stories, oral histories, and local memories may slowly fade if they are not documented and shared in a way that young people can understand and connect with.

寻迹士乃 Loi Ah, Cim Ziak Hi responds to this issue by creating an AI-enabled cultural learning route for young people. The project brings together the Trace Soul AI cultural guide, Trace Pack mission kit, an 8-stop cultural route, site-based activities, Trace Wall reflections, video documentation, a Heritage Zine, and a Cultural Learning Map.

Through this experience, participants will not only receive information about Senai, but actively explore, ask questions, listen to stories, complete missions, and reflect on their relationship with local culture. AI is used as a bridge to support intergenerational dialogue, not to replace elders or human connection.

We have received RM7,000 grant support through Project for Happiness 2.0, and we are now raising an additional RM3,000 to complete the production and implementation of this project.

Your contribution will help us produce learning materials, document community stories, and bring this cultural learning route to young participants. By supporting this project, you are helping preserve Senai’s cultural memory and giving young people a meaningful way to understand, experience, and carry their heritage forward.

Vision
To make Senai’s cultural memory visible, meaningful, and accessible to young people through an interactive cultural learning experience.

Mission
To reconnect young people with Kampung Baru Senai’s Hakka heritage, Chinese spirit, and community stories through AI-enabled dialogue, physical route exploration, and reflective learning.

Objectives

1. To help young people understand the stories, values, and cultural spirit behind Senai’s everyday places.
2. To create an 8-stop cultural learning route where participants can explore Senai through missions, local stories, and site-based experiences.
3. To use Trace Soul, an AI cultural guide, as a bridge for intergenerational dialogue between young people and community memories.
4. To document elder stories, oral histories, and local cultural knowledge through interviews, video documentation, Heritage Zine, and Cultural Learning Map.
5. To encourage participants to reflect on their relationship with local culture and carry Senai’s heritage forward.

The project will begin with community story collection through interviews with Senai elders, community leaders, local vendors, and family members connected to Senai’s history. These stories will be organised into a verified cultural knowledge base to support Trace Soul, the AI cultural guide.

Participants will then join an 8-stop cultural learning route across Kampung Baru Senai. Each participant will receive a Trace Pack containing a field journal, route map, mission cards, clue cards, and stamp card. At each stop, they will complete site-based missions, observe cultural traces, scan QR / AR interactions, listen to sound fragments, and reflect on the cultural meaning behind each place.

A key part of the experience is the interaction with Trace Soul. Participants can ask questions to the AI cultural guide during the route, and Trace Soul will respond with story-based answers built from verified oral histories, community memories, and human-reviewed narratives. The AI does not replace elders or community voices; instead, it helps young people start a conversation with the past and understand the stories behind each cultural stop.

The journey ends at the Trace Wall, where participants leave their own written reflections. The project will also produce video documentation, a Heritage Zine, and a Cultural Learning Map so the collected stories can continue to be shared with schools, community groups, visitors, and future generations.

• 75 young participants will take part in the cultural learning route across 5 rounds of activities.
• Participants will experience an 8-stop cultural route across Kampung Baru Senai and learn about the stories, values, and cultural meanings behind each location.
• At least 70% of participants are expected to show improved cultural awareness after the experience through reflection and feedback.
• At least 70% of participants are expected to feel a stronger emotional connection to Senai’s heritage and community stories.
• 8–10 elder and community stories will be documented through interviews, video recording, and written content.
• 75 Trace Packs will be produced for participants, including field journals, route maps, mission cards, clue cards, and stamp cards.
• 50 Heritage Zine copies and 125 Cultural Learning Map copies will be produced for community and educational use.
• A 5–8 minute video documentation will be completed to share the project process, interviews, and community stories.
• The project will create a reusable cultural learning route that can be continued by schools, community groups, Raffles University students, and local partners.
• Participants will leave reflections on the Trace Wall, showing how their understanding of Senai has changed after the journey.